CCIM EXAM QUESTIONS AND CORRECT
ANSWERS!
What are a number of societal factors that make compassionate caring more difficult and
what would you suggest is a good strategy for a clinician to navigate these in general?
Dehumanized health care
Ppl in power try to make it an assembly line. Quick in and quick out. Not good for doctors or
patients.
There is an attack on the personalism/uniqueness of the patient. They have to wear a gown.
Tons of bad health behaviors. Made worse by poverty
Fear of being sued for malpractice claim. May practice defensive medicine.
Lots of insurance issues. Doctors are often the middle man.
break down of community.
technology and electronic health records
Ask them one thing every day that doesn't have to do with their medical condition. Ask the
patient what they want. Do things with them and not to them. Patient is first a person. Get a good
social history. These people are not the disease that they have. Keep in mind power difference
and dont abuse it. You dont need to suspend empathy to problem solve, contrary to belief, but we
have learned that in this class
Take time to appreciate everyday pleasant events
use a gratitude journal to make "fleeting" moments have more staying power
Reframe threats into challenges, reimagine the circumstances, take acreative approach
Although the best way to combat these societal issues would be targeting them themselves, some
good strategies for a clinician to navigate these factors personally include mind training practices
like LKM.
Caritas Attitude
, Idea that a compassionate caring attitude is the core driving force in helping relationships.
Whatever helpers do is grounded in this compassionate caring focus.
balanced notion of person responsibility and outcome
Concept that if a helper has no sense of personal responsibility in helping another person, then
the helping action will most likely not be successful. Helpers must have at least some personal
investment for anything positive to happen, but an excessive sense of personal responsibility is
also a problem in which the clinician feels they are completely responsible for what happens to
the patient
- the trap of thinking that because helpers can be effective, they should always be effective
- people may see helpers as more responsible than you should be
- helper accompany people on their journeys, not do their journeys for them
- the false dichotomy of curing versus caring
-acknowledging personal limits and competency
compassionate empathetic concern versus emotional detachment or emotional engulfment
Compassionate empathic concern is the balanced center of caring for a patient between
emotional detachment and emotional engulfment. It increases the intrinsic motivation to help
another person relying on the internal value of helping. Different areas of the brain are at work
when displaying empathic concern compared to emotional detachment or emotional engulfment.
Empathic concern reflects an extension of value to include an interest in the welfare of the other,
distinct from oneself, that is beyond self-interest
therapeutic perspective versus detached objectivity
Objective, emotionally neutral approach to the patient is actually related to the worst kind of
medical care. The ability to gain a therapeutic perspective on a clinical situation is essential to
balanced caring. In order to avoid becoming consumed by a client's pathology, hopelessness, or
despair, helpers need to have access to a broader perspective that comes from our knowledge
base, life experience, and experiences with other clients that serve as a source of hope and
optimism. It is a move that helps a clinician not take what is occurring personally.
ANSWERS!
What are a number of societal factors that make compassionate caring more difficult and
what would you suggest is a good strategy for a clinician to navigate these in general?
Dehumanized health care
Ppl in power try to make it an assembly line. Quick in and quick out. Not good for doctors or
patients.
There is an attack on the personalism/uniqueness of the patient. They have to wear a gown.
Tons of bad health behaviors. Made worse by poverty
Fear of being sued for malpractice claim. May practice defensive medicine.
Lots of insurance issues. Doctors are often the middle man.
break down of community.
technology and electronic health records
Ask them one thing every day that doesn't have to do with their medical condition. Ask the
patient what they want. Do things with them and not to them. Patient is first a person. Get a good
social history. These people are not the disease that they have. Keep in mind power difference
and dont abuse it. You dont need to suspend empathy to problem solve, contrary to belief, but we
have learned that in this class
Take time to appreciate everyday pleasant events
use a gratitude journal to make "fleeting" moments have more staying power
Reframe threats into challenges, reimagine the circumstances, take acreative approach
Although the best way to combat these societal issues would be targeting them themselves, some
good strategies for a clinician to navigate these factors personally include mind training practices
like LKM.
Caritas Attitude
, Idea that a compassionate caring attitude is the core driving force in helping relationships.
Whatever helpers do is grounded in this compassionate caring focus.
balanced notion of person responsibility and outcome
Concept that if a helper has no sense of personal responsibility in helping another person, then
the helping action will most likely not be successful. Helpers must have at least some personal
investment for anything positive to happen, but an excessive sense of personal responsibility is
also a problem in which the clinician feels they are completely responsible for what happens to
the patient
- the trap of thinking that because helpers can be effective, they should always be effective
- people may see helpers as more responsible than you should be
- helper accompany people on their journeys, not do their journeys for them
- the false dichotomy of curing versus caring
-acknowledging personal limits and competency
compassionate empathetic concern versus emotional detachment or emotional engulfment
Compassionate empathic concern is the balanced center of caring for a patient between
emotional detachment and emotional engulfment. It increases the intrinsic motivation to help
another person relying on the internal value of helping. Different areas of the brain are at work
when displaying empathic concern compared to emotional detachment or emotional engulfment.
Empathic concern reflects an extension of value to include an interest in the welfare of the other,
distinct from oneself, that is beyond self-interest
therapeutic perspective versus detached objectivity
Objective, emotionally neutral approach to the patient is actually related to the worst kind of
medical care. The ability to gain a therapeutic perspective on a clinical situation is essential to
balanced caring. In order to avoid becoming consumed by a client's pathology, hopelessness, or
despair, helpers need to have access to a broader perspective that comes from our knowledge
base, life experience, and experiences with other clients that serve as a source of hope and
optimism. It is a move that helps a clinician not take what is occurring personally.
