Lifetime of Impact Offers Empathy Videos to Promote Patient Engagement

 “Am I going to die?”, the man asked the doctor tearfully. “We’re going to take excellent care of you here to make sure that doesn’t happen,” is what the doctor should have said. Instead, the doctor paused, looked up at the ceiling, and told his extremely scared patient that he was in a very dire situation. A woman recovering from brain surgery, terrified of doctors, was about to undergo a tracheotomy. She was unable to communicate, but the surgeon assumed she was afraid of having a scar on her neck. Moments before he was going to cut into her throat, he reassured her by pointing out that the actress Catherine Zeta-Jones had a tracheotomy as a child, and you can’t see her scar! These doctors lacked empathy. Both patients described above recovered, due to great, empathetic care they received from most of their medical team. Shari Bookstaff, Biology Professor at Skyline College, experienced this type of inconsistency in treatment during many months in the hospital recovering from a brain tumor. Even though she was unresponsive in the weeks following her surgery, she was aware of every invasive procedure done. Her care was, at times, excellent and empathetic, and other times, judgmental and insensitive.Wanting to address this discrepancy, Shari founded the nonprofit Lifetime of Impact to help as many health professionals as possible instantly connect with their patients and better exhibit compassionate and empathetic treatment. To fulfill this mission, she offers Lifetime of Impact’s presentation to student and professional medical groups, publishes a newsletter with stories and ideas to help maintain an attitude of empathy, and maintains a website and social media presence.