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"Sympathy", "Empathy" and a "bedside manner"...
4 years agoHi Verbling!
If you happened to read my last post about having had a frog in my throat, you might assume (correctly) that I ended up going to the doctor.
And this got me thinking about the phrase "bedside manner". Why are we so critical of medical professionals who have a poor bedside manner? What is a bedside manner?
It's an abstract noun - it describes the mannerisms or the way the doctor or nurse acts. If he or she has a good bedside manner, we understand that they are understanding of the patient's needs, and show a degree of sympathy.
But how do sympathy and empathy differ? Many people struggle to tell the difference between the two. "Sympathy" describes being able to feel pity for another person. But "empathy" describes being able to put yourself in someone else's shoes and feel their discomfort as though it were your own.
Google tells us that sympathy is about having compassion for others while empathy is a deeper form of feeling - as though someone else's pain belongs to you.
I believe that a good doctor needs to have a good bedside manner, in addition to all their other skills, and to me, this means that he/she is able to be sympathetic about their patient's discomfort and needs. Sympathy and empathy are both characteristics, making them abstract nouns in terms of word class. What do you think? What makes a good healthcare professional?
Have a great day!
Ari
