Oxford Empathy Programme

Founded in 2015 by Dr Jeremy Howick and Sir

Muir Gray

The Oxford Empathy Programme (OxEmCare) is an interdisciplinary research group that includes medical practitioners, philosophers, psychologists, and sociologists.

AIM

For all healthcare interactions to include a dose of empathy. This often, but not always, requires additional time.We work to ensure that the evidence-based benefits of empathic care are implemented into the heart of all healthcare settings and interactions.

Empathic care has been shown to improve patient outcomes as well as practitioner well-being. Trials show that empathic care can reduce: patient pain, depression, anxiety, practitioner burnout, and patient complaints / medico-legal risk. It can also improve: patient satisfaction, well-being, and improve medication adherence. Yet the extent to which practitioners express empathy is variable.

KEY AREAS OF WORK

Conducting and disseminating research on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of empathic health care and the factors that support its delivery.
Influencing healthcare policy and practice to support empathic care.
Developing and providing training and development related to empathy for healthcare practitioners, healthcare managers and trainees.

VALUES

Using best available evidence to inform decisions.
Collaborating across boundaries.
Promoting integrity and quality.
Supporting next generation of empathy leaders.

OUR TEAM

Jeremy Howick

Senior Researcher & Director, Oxford Empathy Programme

Charlotte Albury

Research Fellow

Muir Gray

Honorary Clinical Researcher

Priorities

Overall : Building a model of an ‘empathic healthcare organisation’ and evaluating/implementing it. If you are interested in this please contact jeremy.howick@philosophy.ox.ac.uk

Research : the health economics of empathy (does it save or cost money?) If you are interested in this please contact Jeremy.howick@philosophy.ox.ac.uk.

Teaching : deliver the empathy training course (if you are interested in this please contact Jeremy.howick@philosophy.ox.ac.uk).

Other : what is the role of technology in an empathic healthcare organization? If you are interested in this please contact Jeremy.howick@philosophy.ox.ac.uk.

Tweets by OxEmCare

Upcoming events

‘Designing the Ideal Empathic Organisation. Details TBA’

Previous events

04 November 2019 'International Colloquium'

* This colloquium had over 100 attendees, including Jodi Halpern and Stewart Mercer
* The aim was to explore innovative ways to embed enhanced empathy within healthcare
* It was done in partnership with the Royal Society of Medicine (https://www.rsm.ac.uk/events/open/2019-20/onn01/)

21 May 2018 'Introducing the Hard Science of Self Healing' Balens Continuing Professional Development Conference, Birmingham, UK (http://www.balens.co.uk/cpd.aspx)

17 May 2018 'Placebos, empathy, and expectations: how these change your patients minds and bodies' Psychologists in the Pub, London UK..
28 April 2018. 'Why every healthcare consultation needs a dose of empathy' Stanford Medicine X.

27 April 2018. One Day Workshop at Stanford Medicine X: 'Mine your placebo potential, unleash empathy, and meet the power of Doctor You'.

28 March 2018 The Oxford Empathy Programme co-sponsored a 1-day empathy training course. See here for more details.

13 March 2018 'The Ethics of Placebo Treatments' Health Psychology Seminars, King's College London (https://www.kcl.ac.uk/ioppn/depts/psychology/research/ResearchGroupings/...)

1 March 2018. 'Why every healthcare consultation needs a dose of empathy' Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, Oxford (https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/f25cef80-09c6-4800-bbdc-213776098691/)

26 January 2018. “Why every healthcare consultation needs a dose of empathy”. Grand rounds talk. University of British Columbia, Canada (http://www.msl.ubc.ca/events/spph-grand-rounds-dr-eva-oberle)

Official Launch of the Oxford Empathy Programme
25 October 2016. Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford.

2016 Inaugural National Empathy Colloquium
25/26 October Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford.
The aim of this event is to start a discussion about how promoting a culture of empathy might improve patient, practitioner, and staff health and well being. We will publish a report of what happened at the event in November 2016.

International Colloquium 24 October 2017

This colloquium had over 50 attendees, including Sir Muir Gray and Professor Jeffrey Aronson
What kind of empathy is beneficial to patients and practitioners?
Through group discussions, plenary sessions and poster presentations, we will explore this and other contemporary issues in empathy, with a view to collating our findings and publishing a report on our colloquium.
This colloquium had over 50 attendees, including Sir Muir Gray, Professor Jeffrey Aronson, and
What kind of empathy is beneficial to patients and practitioners?
Through group discussions, plenary sessions and poster presentations, we will explore this and other contemporary issues in empathy, with a view to collating our findings and publishing a report on our colloquium.