CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook and NYU Langone's Dr. Jennifer Adams join "CBS Mornings Plus" to discuss efforts to bring compassion and human connection back to medicine.

Washington

Healthcare professionals and researchers are increasingly focusing on the role of empathy and human connection in improving patient care. Dr. John LePoucq, CBS News Chief Medical Correspondent, and Dr. Jennifer Adams from NYU Langone Health, discussed global efforts to teach and measure empathy in medical education. At a recent international conference, experts from various countries shared approaches to embedding empathy in healthcare, highlighting that empathy can be taught and learned.

The Center for Empathy at NYU Langone Health, led by Dr. Adams, has developed innovative curricula, including art-based exercises and actor-led simulations, to train medical students in empathy and active listening. The initiative, known as the Empathy Project, also uses short films and feedback sessions to help clinicians better connect with patients. Similar programs are emerging in other institutions worldwide, reflecting a growing recognition of the value of compassion in healthcare.

Why compassion and connection are critical to healthcare

Let's face it, the healthcare industry has a bit of a PR problem. From all the red tape, to the long waits for an appointment, and don't even get us started on insurance claims. Oh, the claims. But there is a movement to put the care back in healthcare, as we've been saying this morning. And one of the leaders of that movement is our CBS News Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. John LePoucq. He says it's all about empathy, and recently spoke on the topic at a conference that brought together people from all over the world. Dr. LePoucq is here now with his colleague, Dr. Jennifer Adams, who is the Frankfurt Family Director of the Center for Empathy. There is a Center for Empathy at NYU Langone Health, where, of course, Dr. LePoucq, you practice gastroenterology. I could never say it. I slowed it down and I was looking for help. Dr. LePoucq, so tell us about this conference and what people from all over the world were saying about empathy. And why is empathy the key? I came back so jazzed up. You jazzed up? No. Can you imagine the empathy to just pick up that vibe? Professor Jeremy Howick heads up the Stony Gate Center for Empathic Healthcare at the University of Leicester, England. I'm told it's Leicester. He told me how to pronounce it. And there were people from all over the world. Japan, Germany, Brazil, even Estonia, Ireland, France, England. It was so exciting. And all of them had sort of the same vibe and the same goal, which was understanding the world is aching for empathy. The world is aching for empathy. And all these people at different parts of the world, kind of parallel evolution, were figuring out, you know what, we can actually teach it. And the literature, the research shows in the last 10 years or so, even increasingly, that you can actually not only teach empathy, but it can be learned. And it's super exciting to see everybody coming together and sharing. Dr. Adams, what does the Center for Empathy do? So our center aims to create innovative and kind of groundbreaking curriculum that we can put out to all of NYU Langone Health and the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. And not only put it out, but then study it. I think one of the big questions in empathy is you do all this curriculum, does it matter? And it's our real goal to have clear metrics on how to study it. So what's a real world example of what you teach your health care providers about how to be more empathetic? And what's the impact? What's an example of that, of the training? Well, talk about the training, about, you know, the students, the actors. So we do a lot of curriculum that teaches the empathy, example being we take people to the Whitney and we look at art. And through that, we learn about perspective believing. We learn about engaged curiosity, active listening and self-awareness. It's an empathy boot camp for first year medical students. Yeah, it's awesome. But people who go into medicine don't, I mean, they by nature want to help people. Like, why is there a gap in their empathy level? So I think what happens is it's really hard to be a doctor. There are many challenges. It's hard. Our patients get sick. There's stresses in the system. And you can lose that empathy because it's difficult. So what we need to do is teach them how to use that empathy when it's most important. So one way we do it also is by creating cases and training actors. And we bring the students in with the actors and they do a case. And then we give them feedback on how did that work? How did that feel? What skills can you use to really kind of change what happens when you're depleted as a physician? And I have to say, this is all part of the Empathy Project. I came to NYU Langone in 2013 to form this. And it comes down to philosophically, what's the relationship between two people? Yes, it could be a physician and a patient. But it's any two people, right? And we use Hollywood-quality short films to teach clinicians and training and others to be more empathic and sensitive and competent and empower patients to demand that. And we spent 10 months with the help of Disney to create a logo, like a Pixar lamp logo, which is our North Star for, like, what kind of quality are we looking for? And of course, you always want, as a patient, you want your doctor to be seeing you. But what you really want is to be heard. So watch this logo that we came up with. And I should say that there are other centers around the world that are doing this. In the United States, UC San Diego is a big after Cleveland Clinic. It's at Hopkins, other places. It's really exciting right now. Really cool. Dr. Adams, thank you very much. Thank you so much for having us. Dr. LaPook, really cool. I really appreciate it. Thanks, guys.

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