Diabetics do better with empathetic doctors

A doctor's empathy can improve the care of diabetes patients and should be considered an important part of being a good doctor, according to a new study. The study included 891 diabetes patients treated between July 2006 and June 2009 by 29 doctors at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. The researchers assessed the doctors' level of empathy for patients, while the quality of patient care was determined by an LDL ("bad") cholesterol test and a hemoglobin A1C test for blood glucose levels. Patients whose doctors had high empathy scores were more likely to have good control of their blood sugar and low LDL cholesterol levels than patients whose doctors had low empathy scores. The results indicate that empathy on the part of doctors can contribute to patient satisfaction, trust and compliance with therapy