Studying Shakespeare could help medical students connect with patients
A palliative care doctor has suggested that studying Shakespeare’s plays could help medical students connect more closely with their patients. Writing in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine Dr David Jeffrey, of the Department of Palliative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, investigates how the playwright’s empathic approach - the ability to understand and share the feelings of another - can enhance the patient-doctor relationship.
Dr Jeffrey writes that the idea that emotions are disruptive and need to be controlled is deeply ingrained in medical education and practice, contributing to doctors distancing from patients. The coronavirus pandemic, with the need for personal protections, social distancing and video consultations has, he says, created challenges to establishing empathic relationships between patients and doctors.
He argues that a study of Shakespeare’s plays may be a creative way of enhancing empathic approaches in medical students. Drawing on references from The Tempest, As You Like It and King Lear, he writes: “It is remarkable that Shakespeare’s work remains relevant today. It seems that he had an ability to anticipate our thoughts, particularly in times of crisis.”
Dr Jeffrey describes the way Shakespeare depicts the world from the other person’s point of view, not just their understanding, but their emotions and their moral perspectives. This approach, he writes, creates a space for interpretation and reflection, to experience empathy. “Creating such a space for reflection is a central part of clinical practice and medical education.”
He adds: “Shakespeare speaks through times of crisis, underlining the centrality of empathic human relationships. Medical humanities are often on the fringes of medical education but should be central to medicine culture change. A special study module would be one way of introducing Shakespeare studies to the undergraduate curriculum.”
Notes to editors
Shakespeare’s empathy: enhancing connection in the patient–doctor relationship in times of crisis (DOI: 10.1177/0141076821996005) by David Jeffrey will be published by the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine at 00:05 hrs (UK time) on Friday 2 April 2021.
The link for the full text of the paper when published will be: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0141076821996005
For further information or a copy of the paper please contact:
Rosalind Dewar
Media Office, Royal Society of Medicine
DL: +44 (0) 1580 764713
M: +44 (0) 7785 182732
E: media@rsm.ac.uk
The Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (JRSM) is a leading voice in the UK and internationally for medicine and healthcare. Published continuously since 1809, JRSM features scholarly comment and clinical research. JRSM is editorially independent from the Royal Society of Medicine, and its editor is Dr Kamran Abbasi.
JRSM is a journal of the Royal Society of Medicine and it is published by SAGE Publishing.
Sara Miller McCune founded SAGE Publishing in 1965 to support the dissemination of usable knowledge and educate a global community. SAGE is a leading international provider of innovative, high-quality content publishing more than 1000 journals and over 800 new books each year, spanning a wide range of subject areas. A growing selection of library products includes archives, data, case studies and video. SAGE remains majority owned by our founder and after her lifetime will become owned by a charitable trust that secures the company’s continued independence. Principal offices are located in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore, Washington DC and Melbourne. www.sagepublishing.com