A Stanford University study suggested that a lack of compassion in health professionals not only affect patients who experience their unkind behavior from their practitioner, but also induces stress and burnout to the health providers themselves. The study examined possible practical steps to increase compassion, thereby benefitting both provider well-being and patient care.

This study involved 134 participants who were psychology undergraduate students at Stanford University. 46 participants were randomly assigned to loving-kindness meditation (LKM group), 44 to a non-compassion, positive affect induction (PAI group), and another 44 to a non-affective neutral control condition (NEU group).

The findings showed that 10-minute session of LKM practice can increase feelings of social connection and closeness to strangers, such as similarity, familiarity, and attraction. This may explain why LKM appears to create a feeling of “warm glow”, which aids medical practitioners in taking a more compassionate approach to patients.

The study concluded that LKM may be a viable, practical, and time-effective solution for preventing burnout and promoting resilience in healthcare providers and for improving quality of care in patients.

Another study from Stanford University also pointed out the healing power of kindness, showing that when patients are treated with kindness, their wounds heal faster, with their pain, anxiety, blood pressure, and even length of hospital stay being reduced. It is also found that a kinder work environment helps doctors, nurses, and caregivers feel more engaged and less exhausted.

The review proved that kindness shouldn’t be viewed as a warm and nice afterthought to show after the medicine is administered, but as an indispensable part of the healing process.

The argument for institutionalizing kinder practices in hospitals, doctor’s offices, and care facilities: https://t.co/ZgjogUJQAz pic.twitter.com/SviDSUCC7W

— Dennis Tirch PhD (@DennisTirchPhD) December 4, 2016

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