If the COVID 19 situation has shown us anything, it is the fact that doctors are the real heroes! Compassion and empathy are the two very crucial aspects of healthcare and the medical industry. But most often physicians tend to forget the origin of empathy and compassion while treating their subjects. Compassion in medical students is needed so that their skills can be demonstrated in a manner that is conducive for the healing process – from diagnosis to treatment. Compassion in medical students teaches them how to behave and supervise critical situations and how to keep things calm in an emergency. Medical education is not only confined to methodical education and science but it also involves learning about soft skills like empathy and compassion. Not only medical science, but all fields should have a sense of empathy and compassion. Everybody should reach out to that one person who requires attention and is in need of help.
Compassion in medical students mainly consists of five elements: identifying suffering, understanding the universality of human pain, feeling for the person who is suffering, tolerating uncomfortable feelings, and motivation to exercise to alleviate suffering. In the medical field you need to have a soft corner so that you can exercise the art of treating the patient. You need to be extremely calm and composed. Colleges should also try and inculcate the art of compassion in medical students. Compassion is supposed to be a part of the treatment methodology. The medical practitioner should want the person to heal rather than just writing a prescription or performing surgery.
According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, compassion is “a feeling of wanting to help someone who is sick, hungry, in trouble, etc.” Most of us realize that being compassionate can have benefits to others. Compassion involves unconditional acceptance, endurance, action and courage.
Here are 10 benefits of being compassionate:
- Compassion promotes social connection: Compassion in medical students helps them to reach out to people who need attention. It helps them open up their patients and also assists them to understand the patient’s pain and sufferings.
- Compassionate love can increase chances of survival. Being compassionate towards someone gives them a ray of expectation and helps them rejuvenate the will to live. Compassionate love is better than any medicine.
- Compassion helps you to create a link between souls. It helps you connect and creates confidence in the minds of the patient.
- Compassion helps to fight anxiety attacks. Compassion in medical students can help them fight such mental barriers and create an atmosphere of positivity.
- Compassion for teachers can help them achieve job gratification, sense of achievement and also helps them create a strong link between students as well as colleagues.
- Self-compassion has various psychological benefits and also helps fight aging.
- Self-compassion helps you become an optimistic and positive person. It helps you become an allrounder with controlled criticism and anxiety issues.
- Self-love helps you stay apart from deadly addictions like smoking and drinking. It helps you quit all nasty habits and become an optimistic soul
- It inculcates the feeling of general well being and willingness to change.
- Compassion helps people to adapt to others and develops the feeling of oneness. Being compassionate can reduce chances of self-harm, self-criticism and also self-consciousness.
Compassion helps you love yourself the way you are, which is something that patients can learn by example. Compassion in medical students helps them to treat patients with pure hearts and full dedication. Not only in medical students, but today’s youth in its entirety should have compassion and empathy for one another. So before you attempt the medical entrance exams, ask yourself if you are compassionate enough.
