Journal of Sacred Work

"…it is possible to identify physicians who are more likely to elicit a healing response from their patients because their communication and relational skills reliably produce better outcomes." (emphasis added) – Eve Henry (3rd year medical student, Vanderbilt University.)

    Eve Henry (above, far right) a soon-to-be M.D., has recently served as key writer and researcher for a powerful study that proves what most of us have suspected for decades: a caregiver's demeanor has a physiological effect on a patient's recovery. Unfortunately, this effect has too often been dismissed with the word placebo. Medical terminology has consistently demeaned the healing power of this phenomenon.

   Now, a Vanderbilt University team, headed by Drs. Roy Elam, Larry Churchill and Ms. Henry, is campaigning to help change all of this. As Ms. Henry writes: "There is mounting scientific evidence that the doctor-patient relationship is an important factor in why patients get better."
   As this truth becomes more and more clear, these leaders want medical schools and residency programs to incorporate into their core curricula the teaching of compassionate communication. They believe this work should be as central to medical education as are chemistry and anatomy.
   Consider just one example. In 2004, a group of post operative patients were given pain relieving treatments in two different ways. Group one was given the pain medication through a computer-controlled infusion pump without being told the purpose of the medication. Group two was given the identical medication by a clinician who carefully described the treatment as pain-relieving.
   The difference in patient response was striking, both as to depth of reaction and as to speed of response. Group one needed substantially more pain medication to achieve the same pain reduction. Group one was also slower to experience relief than was group two. (Colloca & Beneditti 2004)
   Since you are reading all of this in The Journal of Sacred Work, it is likely that you are among the caregivers who already engage compassionate communication as an integral aspect of your work. Congratulations. You may now know that there is a growing body of scientific evidence to support the fact that your behavior with patients is having a positive physiological impact!
   How can we spread the word? How can we ensure increased credibility for the power of compassion in promoting healing?

-Erie Chapman