Today on Radio Rounds, host Lakshman Swamy will discuss the nature of compassion in health care with Dr. Beth Lown, a practicing internist in Boston, associate professor at Harvard Medical School and medical director for the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare. The Schwartz Center was established in 1995 at the bequest of healthcare attorney Ken Schwartz after his battle with lung cancer. His experiences led him to appreciate the critical importance of compassion in an increasingly industrialized health care system. Since then, the Schwartz Center has worked to improve caregiver communication, promote empathy and spiritual care, and empower patients and families. One example of the Center’s work is seen at the over 350 healthcare facilities in the US and 60 in the UK that have adopted Schwartz Rounds, an opportunity toopenly and honestly discuss the social and emotional issues we face in caring for patients and families. In contrast to traditional medical rounds, the focus here is on the human dimension of medicine. In this first part of our series with Dr. Beth Lown, we’ll discuss the meaning of compassion and how it may relate to provider burnout.
