Human Factors Specialist Ornge Air Transport Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
For years we have been teaching paramedics/helpers that they need to be empathic when working with patients and their families. We often suggest that we walk in their shoes. For years, I have told anyone who would listen to attempt to cognitively know about people's shoes, be kind to their shoes and treat them well but stay out of our patient's and their families shoes. We now have proof that empathy is a pain neuro-pathway where we are in a blended state, i.e. we are feeling with; we also know that compassion is a reward-neural pathway. When we feel compassion, we are rewarded for what we signed up for; hot calls, saving lives and doing complex medicine under challenging situations.
When we work in healthcare, we often hear about the good, the bad, and the ugly. When hearing about the ugly, it can sometimes be related to people's trauma, addictions or other complex stories that can impact us. This workshop invites people to be intentional about self-care; we will discuss how resonating with our patients and their families' pain during a crisis can make us susceptible to compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder.
Learning Objectives:
Differentiate between the fundamental concepts of empathy and compassion
Differentiate how resonating with patients' pain can lead to unconscious empathy (feeling with), which can lead to compassion fatigue
or what people are suggesting should be called "empathy fatigue."
Recognize how paramedics with a history of Childhood Emotional Neglect, Developmental Trauma or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
are more susceptible to what we now call Compassion Fatigue
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
