Empathy an important business component of healthcare

Geoffrey Roche, director of workforce development at Siemens Healthineers, speaks at HIMSS24 in Orlando Monday.

Photo: Jeff Lagasse/Healthcare Finance News

ORLANDO – Business considerations tend to dictate the work that occurs within an organization, but with mental and behavioral health increasingly prevalent across the healthcare industry, one component is sorely needed: empathy.

According to Geoffrey Roche, director of workforce development at Siemens Healthineers, workplace culture can affect behavioral health and substance abuse challenges, necessitating the implementation of empathetic leadership at an organizational level.

In his HIMSS24 session, "Transforming the Healthcare Workplace with Empathy and Innovation," Roche told an audience at the Behavioral Health Forum Monday that implementing empathetic leadership can foster a number of positive characteristics that can help strengthen connections, trust and strong relationships.

"We're not doing situational awareness often – thinking about what someone could be facing, or dealing with the idea of making them feel safe," said Roche. "We're just now starting to think about psychological issues in the workplace, but we've been dealing with this sort of thing for a long time."

Roche bases his thinking around a framework called Crucial Conversations, which he contended should be made commonplace in healthcare settings. Crucial Conversations is a set of best practices for how to effectively and empathetically address employee behavioral health difficulties.

The framework is meant to prevent anecdotes such as the one Roche shared about a now-deceased patient who spoke about their care journey prior to their death, and said the best care they received on their journey took place in hospice – because of the empathy shown not only to them, but to their family.

"Why can't we replicate that in all areas of the health system? Because it can have a profound impact," said Roche.

An important component of this approach is active listening – the simple idea of letting someone finish their dialogue before they respond to them. That, said Roche, improves the quality of the feedback they receive.

"We're hearing of more and more situations … that brings to the forefront of why this needs attention," he said. "Recently there have been a lot of letters to the editor from people whose lives ended, and they cite workplace and burnout as the causes, blaming employers and saying it's their responsibility. We all have a duty and responsibility to … not just help our workforce, but also transform the workplace with empathy."

It's a mindset that goes beyond simply addressing concerns during annual employee experience surveys. Workers who feel safe and connected are more effective contributors to their organizations, said Roche, and to that end they need a sense of belonging. That means workplaces should recognize employees for their accomplishments, among other things.

"If someone feels like they belong, they're much more likely to stay," said Roche.

He cited a UKG survey showing that 69% of respondents said their manager impacted their mental health more so than their doctors (41%). And 80% said they'd rather have good mental health than a high-paying job.

Clearly, there's much that organizations can be doing.

"It starts with going back to the idea that we are all human," said Roche. "As humans, we have a desire to be impactful. We have a desire to connect meaningfully with others. The question is, how are we creating workplaces that can sustain that?"
 

Jeff Lagasse is editor of Healthcare Finance News.
Email: jlagasse@himss.org
Healthcare Finance News is a HIMSS Media publication.