January 10, 2025
PALTC25 Keynoter Stephen Trzeciak, MD, MPH, Edward D. Viner Endowed Chief of Medicine at Cooper University Health Care, professor and chair of medicine at Cooper Medical School,
and author of Wonder Drug and Compassionomics: The Revolutionary Scientific Evidence That Caring Makes a Difference, says, “We have a compassion crisis in health care.”
For anyone who thinks compassion doesn’t matter, he explains, “My colleagues and I went on a journey through the scientific evidence, and we synthesized data from more than 1,000 articles published in peer-reviewed journals. Our research makes a compelling case that compassion matters, in both meaningful and measurable ways.”
He will share some of his findings and experiences with attendees at PALTC25 in Charlotte, NC, March 13-15, 2025. He says, “I don’t expect to change people’s hearts or get them to think differently about compassion. Rather, I want to show them what the science says and help them see that compassion belongs in the domain of evidence-based medicine.”
Dr. Trzeciak, a practicing intensivist specializing in intensive care medicine, understands the need for practitioners to offer compassion and comfort to patients and families. He says, “When we’re in these very challenging situations with patients and their families, we often don’t know what is truly in the front of their minds unless we ask, ‘What worries you the most?’” He notes that clinical evidence supports the value of this query, and he admits that he sometimes is “blown away” by people’s answers. Often, he says, the answer is what he expects, but sometimes it’s something he didn’t even know was on the radar screen. Either way, he can use this information to allay their fears and/or provide some comfort and support. He stresses that whatever the prognosis and the patient’s condition, practitioners can always do something that’s meaningful, even if it doesn’t change the outcome.
At least one study shows the extent of the compassion crisis. It found through a survey that many Americans not only think the health-care system here lacks compassion, but they don’t think providers and practitioners are compassionate either. He also cites a five-year follow-up of survivors of a bus crash, where the individuals remembered little of the event. However, one thing that stayed with them was a perceived lack of compassion with which they were treated. “This is particularly concerning to me,” Dr. Trzeciak says.
Whether patients and families feel listened to or cared about makes a difference in how they feel about a situation. There is clinical evidence of this, says Dr. Trzeciak. He explains that litigation could result if the practitioner delivers technically perfect care where the patient or family feels like they weren’t cared about or treated with compassion and understanding. But he stresses that avoiding lawsuits isn’t why we should treat people with compassion. “We should do so because it’s the morally right and ethical thing to do. Fewer lawsuits are just a byproduct,” he notes.
Dr. Trzeciak believes that technology, including advanced AI use, will actually improve communication and compassion. He pointed to AI solutions that capture clinical data during interactions and enable practitioners to focus on the patient and not the computer screen. “They are more able to catch important emotional cues and connect and build relationships with patients,” he says.
Not only is there a compassion crisis, says Dr. Trzeciak, but there also is a burnout epidemic. Increased compassion and better human connections can help reduce stress and promote resilience and resistance, he suggests. “This is what we found in our journey through the scientific evidence,” he says. “This is especially important for the PALTmed audience, as they went through the ringer during the pandemic and are still recovering.” In his presentation, he will share his own burnout story and how compassion “made all the difference.”
Don’t miss Dr. Trzeciak and the other impactful PALTC25 speakers. Register now to attend in person or participate in the Virtual Learning Track.
