What is Compassionate Care?

I have spent 35 years dedicating my life to the study and practice of medicine.  I have been both a patient and a doctor.  I have had good care and not-so-good care.
I have practiced self-care and self-neglect.  
I have seen colleagues, friends, and patients suffer from ill health.
I have shared time and space with many people suffering from mental distress.

There is one main lesson to learn.  What we know about someone else and their lived experience is hardly anything.

We each of us soothe or comfort ourselves in different ways.  Some practices may be of more benefit than others!  There is no place in health care or self-discovery for judgment.  When we accept who we are, we open up the potential for change.

Guilt and shame do not help us move forward in life.  Compassionate care is based on interconnectedness. The provision of care through relationships is based on empathy, respect, trust, and dignity.

It is being fully present in that moment and not only listening to each other but hearing what the other has to say.  It is having the mental flexibility to accept someone else’s point of view and acknowledging that what you think may work may not be aligned with what they believe in.  That is ok.

Compassionate care is also about self-care.

It's that process of replacing our somewhat sadistic inner tyrant with a supportive inner coach who has high standards but isn’t going to be a ranting judgmental idiot about it if we mess up.  Life is often about messing up, but that is the time when we learn the most

Compassionate self-care is talking to ourselves the way we would talk to a very good friend – to someone we love and care about. For some reason our thought gremlins can often mean we don’t feel worthy of that same self-care.

The ‘good’ consultations I have had as a patient are generally because of the way the Doctor made me feel, not necessarily what they were able to do.

This is the start of a collaborative Doctor-Patient relationship.  If you have some health challenges and you would like to see if I am the right Doctor for you, please make an appointment.  Relationships are probably the most important variable in healthy human performance. Make sure yours are the best.  This includes, foremost, the relationship you have with yourself.