UMATSUCCESS SUPERPREP COURSES
PRE-COURSE STUDY MATERIALS
PART 1 LOGICAL REASONING AND PROBLEM SOLVING
CONTENTS
LOGICAL REASONING AND PROBLEM SOLVING The Seven Basic Principles of Logical Reasoning
4-7
The Nine Crucial LR Question Types
7 - 14
The Four-Step Method for Logical Reasoning
15 - 17
LOGIC GAMES The Four Basic Principles of Logic Games
18 - 20
The Three Crucial LG Skills
20 - 22
The Three-Step Method for Reading Comprehension
22 - 26
TEST MENTALITY The Four Basics of Good Test Mentality TIPS FOR THE FINAL WEEK
27 - 28 29 - 30
TEST EXAMPLES Section One Test
31 - 39
Section One Explanations
40 - 51
Section Two Test
52 - 57
Section Two Explanations
58 - 69
Section Three Test
70 - 75
Section Three Explanations
76 - 87
Section Four Test
88 - 97
Section Four Explanations
98 - 108
Verbal Section
109 - 128
Verbal Section Explanations
129 - 144
Logical Reasoning Passages
145 - 167
Logical Reasoning Passages Answers
168 - 176
Warm up Drill
176 – 182
Explanatory Answers
183 – 184
Test 1
185 – 192
Test 6
192 – 199
Test 7
199 – 205
Analytical Writing Assessment
205
Analysis of an Argument
205 - 206
Test 1 Explanations
207 – 211
Test 6 Explanations
212 – 216
Test 7 Explanations
216 – 218
Test 2
219 – 226
Test 4
226 – 232
Test 8
233 – 238
Test 2 Explanations
239 – 242
Test 4 Explanations
242 – 246
Test 8 Explanations
247 – 250
Test 3
250 – 257
Test 5
258 – 264
Test 9
264 – 270
Test 3 Explanations
270 – 273
Test 5 Explanations
273 – 276
Test 9 Explanations
276 – 278
Test 10
279 – 285
Test 11
286 – 293
Test 12
294 – 300
Test 10 Explanations
300 – 303
Test 11 Explanations
303 – 306
Test 12 Explanations
306 - 310
LOGICAL REASONING & PROBLEM SOLVING The Seven Basic Principles of Logical Reasoning YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES There’s nothing bizarre or esoteric about the skills you need for Logical Reasoning. You just have to learn how to adapt those skills to the peculiar requirements of a timed, standardised test.
STRUCTURAL SIGNALS Certain clue words and phrases can help you isolate the conclusion and the evidence in a stimulus. Clues that signal evidence: because, since, for, as a result of, due to Clues that signal the conclusion: consequently, hence, therefore, thus, clearly, so, accordingly
Here are the basic things you need to succeed on the LR/PS section.
Understand the Structure of Arguments Success in Logical Reasoning depends on knowing the structure of arguments so that you can break an argument down into its core components. First of all, let’s clarify what’s meant by the word argument. We don’t mean a conversation in which two or more people are shouting at one another. No, the word argument in Logical Reasoning means any piece of text where an author puts forth a set of ideas and/or a point of view, and attempts to support it. Every Logical Reasoning stimulus – that is, every argument – is made up of two basic parts: The conclusion (the point that the author is trying to make) The evidence (the support that the author offers for the conclusion) Success on this section hinges on your ability to identify these parts of the argument. There is no general rule about where conclusion and evidence appear in the argument – the conclusion could be the first sentence, followed by the evidence, or else it could be the last sentence, with the evidence preceding it, or any sentence in between. Consider the following short stimulus. The Canberra Public Library will require extensive physical rehabilitation to meet the new building codes passed by the town council. For one thing, the electrical system is inadequate, causing the lights to flicker sporadically. Furthermore, there are too few emergency exits, and even those are poorly marked and sometimes locked. Let's suppose that the author of the argument above was only allowed one sentence to convey her meaning. Do you think that she would waste her lone opportunity on the statement: "The electrical system at the Canberra Public Library is inadequate, causing the lights to flicker sporadically"? Would she walk away satisfied that she got her main point across? Given a single opportunity, she would have to state the first sentence: "The Canberra Public Library will require extensive physical rehabilitation…" This is her conclusion. If you pressed her for her reasons for making this statement, she would then cite the electrical and structural problems with the building. This is the evidence for her conclusion. But does that mean that an evidence-statement such as, "The electrical system at the Canberra Public Library is inadequate" can't be a conclusion? No, we're saying that it's not the conclusion for this particular argument. Every idea, every new statement, must be evaluated in the context of the stimulus it appears in. Let's see what a stimulus would look like in which the statement above serves as the conclusion: The electrical wiring at the Canberra Public Library was installed over forty years ago, and appears to be corroded in some places (evidence). An electrician, upon inspection of the system, found a few frayed wires as well
EVERYTHING’S AN ARGUMENT Virtually, every LR stimulus is an argument, consisting of two parts – evidence and conclusion.
as some blown fuses (evidence). Clearly, the electrical system at the Canberra Public Library is inadequate (conclusion). To succeed in Logical Reasoning, you have to be able to determine the precise function of every sentence in the stimulus. Use structural signals, or keywords, when attempting to isolate evidence and conclusion. Words in the stimulus such as because, for, and since usually indicate evidence is about to follow, while words such as therefore, hence, thus, and consequently usually signal a conclusion.
Preview the Question Stem Looking over the question stem before reading the stimulus tells you in advance what to focus on in your initial reading of the stimulus. In effect, it gives you a jump on the question. For example, let’s say the question attached to the original library argument above asked the following:
KNOW WHAT YOU’RE LOOKING FOR Previewing the question stem before reading the stimulus makes you a better, more directed reader. You’ll know what you’re looking for in advance.
The author supports her point about the need for rehabilitation at the Canberra Library by citing which of the following? If you were to preview this question stem before reading the stimulus, you would know what to look for in advance-namely, evidence, the "support" provided for the conclusion. Similarly, if the question asked you to find an assumption that the author relying on, this would tell you in advance that there was a crucial piece of argument missing, and you could begin to think about it right off the bat. Previewing the stem allows you to set the tone of your attack on each particular question, and thus will help you save time in the long run. As you’ll soon see, this technique will come in especially handy when we discuss approaches to the various question types.
Paraphrase the Author's Point After you read the stimulus, you'll want to paraphrase the author's main argument, i.e., restate the author's ideas in your own words. Frequently, the authors in Logical Reasoning (and in Reading Comprehension) say pretty simple things in complex ways. But if you mentally translate the wordage into a simpler form, you'll find the whole thing more manageable. In the library argument, for instance, you probably don’t want to deal with the full complexity of the author’s stated conclusion:
IN YOUR OWN WORDS It’s much easier to understand and remember an argument if you restate it simply, in your own words.
The Canberra Public Library will require extensive physical rehabilitation to meet the new building codes just passed by the town council. Instead, you probably want to carry a much simpler form of the point in your mind, something like: The library will need fixing up to meet new codes. Often, by the time you begin reading through answer choices, you run the risk of losing sight of the gist of the stimulus. After all, you can only concentrate on a certain amount of information at one time. Restating the argument in your own words will not only help you get the author's point in the first place, but will help you hold on to it until you've found the correct answer.
Judge the Argument's Persuasiveness You must read actively, not passively, on the UMAT. An active reader is always thinking critically, forming reactions as he goes along. He constantly questions whether the author’s argument seems valid or dubious. One a section where many questions deal with finding flaws in the author’s reasoning, it’s imperative to read with a very critical eye.
LOGIC GAMES The following are the major analytical skills that the Logic Games measure:
TAKE TIME TO MAKE TIME We know it sounds paradoxical, but you really do save time in the long run by taking the time to think about a logic game’s scenario before jumping into its question.
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Organisation-the ability to efficiently assimilate, both in your head and on the page, the formidable amount of data associated with each game
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Mental agility-the ability to keep track of multiple pieces of information simultaneously, and still maintain enough flexibility to shuffle the pieces around in different ways for each question
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Memory-the ability to retain the work done in the setup stage while focusing on the new information in each question stem
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Concentration-the ability to keep focused on the task at hand and not let your mind wander
The Four Basic Principles of Logic Games The test makers know that if you could spend hours methodically trying out every choice in every question, you'd probably get everything right. But what does that prove? Nothing.
First Principle: To Go Faster, Slow Down To gain time in Logic Games, you must spend a lot of time thinking through and analysing the setup and the rules. This is not only the most important principle for logic games success, it's also the one that's most often ignored, probably because it just doesn't seem right intuitively; people having timing difficulties tend to speed up, not slow down. But by spending a little extra time up front thinking through the stimulus, the "action" of the game, and the rules, you'll be able to recognise the game's key issues and make important deductions that will actually save you time in the long run. Games are structured so that, in order to answer the questions quickly and correctly, you need to search out relevant pieces of information that combine to form valid new statements, called deductions. Now, you can either do this once, up front, and then utilise the same deductions throughout the game, or you can choose to piece together the same basic deductions-essentially repeating the same work-for every single question. For instance, let's say that two of the rules for a Logic Game go as follows: If Bob is chosen for the team, then Eric is also chosen. If Eric is chosen for the team, then Pat will not be chosen. You can, as you read through the rules of the game, just treat those rules as two separate pieces of independent information. But there's a deduction to be made from them. If Bob is chosen, Eric is, too. If Eric is chosen, Pat is not. That means that, if Bob is chosen, Pat is not chosen. That's an important deductionone that will undoubtedly be required from question to question. If you don't take the time to make it up front, when you're first considering the game, you'll have to make it over and over again, every time it's necessary to answer a question. But if you do take the time to make this deduction up front, and build it into your entire conception of the game, you'll save that time later. You won't be doing the same work several times. The choice is yours; we find that the rush-to-the-questions method is inefficient, time-consuming, and stress-inducing.
NO PARROTS, PLEASE To fully grasp a rule in Logic Games, you must know more than just what it says. You’ve got to know what the rule means in the context of the game and in combination with other rules.
Always try to take the rules as far as you can before moving on to the questions. Look for common elements among the rules (like Eric in the rules above)-this will help you combine them and pull out major deductions. The stimulus creates a situation, and the rules place restrictions on what can and cannot happen within that situation. If you investigate the possible scenarios, and look for and find major deductions up front, you'll then be able to rack up points quickly and confidently.
Second Principle: Understand What a Rule Means, Not Just What It Says RULE: Arlene is not fifth in line. QUESTION: Which one of the following people is not fifth in line?
ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE Always try to turn negative rules – “Box 2 does not contain any gumdrops” – into a positive statement – “Box 2 must contain chocolates and mints.”
ANSWER: Arlene Virtually every sentence in Logic Games has to be filtered through some sort of analytical process before it will be of any use. You may have to use the information about Arlene to help you eliminate a choice or lead you to the right answer, but even in the simplest of cases, this will involve the application, as opposed to the mere parroting, of the rule. It's imperative that you think through its exact meaning, including any implications it might have For instance, let's look at a scenario in which you have three boxes, each containing at least two of the following three types of chocolates, gumdrops, and mints. Then you get the following rule: Box 2 does not contain any gumdrops.
GAME WISDOM You must know the rules of a Logic Game cold – what they mean, how they impact on other rules, and what implications they have in the context of the game scenario.
What does that rule say? That there aren't any gumdrops in Box 2. But what does that rule mean, when you think about it in the context of the game? That Box 2 does contain chocolates and mints. Each box contains at least two of three things, remember. Once you eliminate one of the three things for any particular box, therefore, you know that the other two things must be in that box. Part of understanding what a rule means, moreover, is grasping what the rule doesn't mean. For example, take the rule we mentioned earlier: RULE: If Bob is chosen for the team, then Eric is also chosen. MEANS: Whenever Bob is chosen, Eric is, too. DOESN'T MEAN: Whenever Eric is chosen, Bob is, too. Remember the discussion of formal logic in Logical Reasoning. If I yell loudly at my cat Adrian, he will run away. That does mean that whenever I yell at him loudly, he runs away. But it doesn't mean that whenever he runs away, I've yelled at him. Third Principle: Use Scratchwork and Shorthand The proper use of scratchwork can help you to do your best on Logic Games. As you may recall, the directions state: “You may wish to draw a rough sketch to help answer some of the questions.” Notice they use the wording rough sketch, not masterpiece, work of art, or classic picture for the ages. The UMAT is not a drawing contest; you get no points for creating beautiful diagrams on the page. However, although some games aren’t amenable to scratchwork, for most games you’ll find that it is helpful to create a master sketch, one that encapsulates all of the game’s information in one easy-to-reference picture. Doing so will not only give your eye a place to gravitate toward when you need information, but it will also help to solidify in your mind the action of the game, the rules, and whatever deductions you come up with up front. Remember to keep your scratchwork simple – the less time you spend drawing, the more time you’ll have for thinking and answering questions. Pay careful
attention to the scratchwork suggestions in the explanations to the four games on the Practice Test in the back of the book. Part of your scratchwork should involve jotting down on your page a quick and shortened form of most rules. Shorthand is a visual representation of a mental thought process, and is useful if it reminds you at a glance of the rule’s meaning. Whether you shorthand a rule or commit it to memory, you should never have to look back at the game itself once you get to the questions. The goal of the entire scratchwork process is to condense a lot of information into manageable, user-friendly visual cues. It’s much easier to remember rules written like so: B
E
No G in 2 than ones written like so: If Bob is chosen for the team, then Eric is also chosen. Box 2 does not contain any gumdrops. This is helpful as long as you know, for insurance, what the arrow from B to E means, and you’re consistent in using it. If you can develop a personal shorthand that’s instantly understandable to you, you’ll have a decided advantage on the day of the test. Fourth Principle: Try to Set off Chains of Deduction When hypothetical information is offered in a question stem, try to use it to set off a chain of deductions. Consider the following question. If the speedboat is yellow, which one of the following must be true? (A) The car is green. (B) The airplane is red. (C) The train is black. (D) The car is yellow. (E) The train is red.
Using the Three-Step Method for Reading Comprehension 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
It has been suggested that post-World War II concepts of environmental liability, as they pertain to hazardous waste, grew out of issues regarding municipal refuse collection and disposal and industrial waste disposal in the period 1880-1940. To a great degree, the remedies available to Australians for dealing with the burgeoning hazardous waste problem were characteristic of the judicial, legislative, and regulatory tools used to confront a whole range of problems in the industrial age. At the same time, these remedies were operating in an era in which the problem of hazardous waste had yet to be recognised. It is understandable that an assessment of liability was narrowly drawn and most often restricted to a clearly identified violator in a specific act of infringement of the property rights of someone else. Legislation, for the most part, focused narrowly on clear threats to the public health and dealt with problems of industrial pollution meekly if at all.
14 15 16 17 18
Nevertheless, it would be grossly inaccurate to assume that the actions of Australian politicians, technologists, health officials, judges, and legislators in the period 1880-1940 have had little impact on the attempts to define environmental liability and to confront the consequences of hazardous waste. Taken as a whole, the precedents of
19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
the late nineteenth through the mid-twentieth century have established a framework in which the problem of hazardous waste is understood and confronted today. Efforts at refuse reform gradually identified the immutable connection between waste and disease, turning eyesores into nuisances and nuisances into health hazards. Confronting the refuse problem and other forms of municipal pollution forced cities to define public responsibility and accountability with respect to the environment. A commitment to municipal services in the development of sewers and collection and disposal systems shifted the burden of responsibility for eliminating wastes from the individual to the community. In some way, the courts' efforts to clarify and broaden the definition of public nuisance were dependent on the cities' efforts to define community responsibility itself.
31 32 33 34 35 36
The courts retained their role as arbiter of what constituted private and public nuisances. Indeed, fear that the courts would transform individual decisions into national precedents often contributed to the search for other remedies. Nonetheless, the courts remained an active agent in cases on the local, state, and national level, making it quite clear that they were not going to be left out of the process of defining environmental liability in Australia.
37 38 39 40 41 42
In the case of hazardous waste, precedents for behavior and remedial action were well developed by 1940. Even though the concept of hazardous waste is essentially a post-World War II notion, the problem was not foreign to earlier generations. The observation that the administrative, technical, and legal problems of water pollution in the 1920s were intertwined is equally applicable to today's hazardous waste problem. 1.
According to the author, the efforts by cities to define public responsibility for the environment resulted in which of the following?
2.
Which of the following, if substituted for the word immutable (line 23), would LEAST alter the author's meaning?
3.
With which one of the following statements would the author be most likely to agree?
4.
The author's primary purpose is to discuss.
5.
The tone of the author's discussion of early attempts to deal with waste and pollution problems could best be described as.
6.
According to the passage, judicial assessments of liability in waste disposal disputes prior to World War II were usually based on.
7.
The passage suggests that responses to environmental problems between 1880 and 1940 were relatively limited in part because of.
1.
Attack the First Third of the Passage Carefully
The first few sentences introduce the topic: hazardous waste. The scope, as you recall, is the specific angle the author takes on the topic, and this seems to be the post-World War II concept of environmental liability associated with hazardous waste. The author points out that it's been suggested that this concept of liability has some connection to issues from the time period 18801940; latter day remedies for hazardous waste are "characteristic of the judicial, legislative, and regulatory tools used to confront a whole range of problems in the industrial age." Since hazardous waste liability concepts of the postwar era had their roots in an era that predated the recognition of hazardous waste problems, the author finds it understandable that liability assessment and the ensuing legislation regarding hazardous waste were both "narrowly drawn." All of this comes out of the first paragraph. In some cases, this would be enough to cover the "first third of the passage" reading. However, the keyword nevertheless at the beginning of the next paragraph indicates that it may be helpful to include this sentence in your initial reading as well. This sentence harks back to and solidifies the connection between the actions and policies from the period 1880-1940 and the concept of environmental liability associated with hazardous waste. This connection is the author's main idea.
2.
Read the Rest of the Passage
The sentence from lines 21 to 24-"Taken as a whole . . . ."-is simply another restatement of the main idea. It's followed by a description of the gradual recognition of the hazardous waste problem, and some of the repercussions of the cities' and courts' efforts to define the problem and to assign responsibility for it. Note that there's some talk in the paragraph about individual versus community responsibility, and the role of cities, but don't fuss over the specifics. If there's a question on these issues, you'll know where to look. The first part of the last paragraph deals mainly with the courts' role in defining environmental liability. The last three sentences of the passage reinforce the main idea; namely that there's a historical context for the ways in which hazardous waste problems are viewed today.
3.
Do the Questions in an Efficient Order
Let's look again at the seven question stems attached to this passage: 1.
According to the author, the efforts by cities to define responsibility for the environment resulted in which of the following?
2.
Which of the following, if substituted for the word immutable (line 23), would LEAST alter the author's meaning?
3.
With which one of the following statements would the author be most likely to agree?
4.
public
The author's primary purpose is to discuss
5.
The tone of the author's discussion of early attempts to deal with waste and pollution problems could best be described as
6.
According to the passage, judicial assessments of liability in waste disposal disputes prior to World War II were usually based on
7.
The passage suggests that responses to environmental problems between 1880 and 1940 were relatively limited in part because of
SECTION ONE TEST Time - 35 minutes 25 questions Directions: You are to choose as the answer to each question the one choice you consider best on the basis of your commonsense evaluation of the statement and its assumptions. 1. If we must refrain from liberating the conquered islands simply because the lives of some civilians would be endangered, then we most never engage in any kind of armed conflict near populated areas. The author of the argument above assumes that (A) armed conflict invariably endangers the lives of civilians (B) the conquered islands can be liberated without conflict (C) one cannot engage in armed conflict near populated areas without endangering civilians (D) the liberation of the conquered islands a less important than the lives of a few civilians (E) the conquered islands should be liberated despite the risk to civilians 2. Marybeth will go shopping only when she has her mother’s s permission. Her mother allows her to go shopping alone at the mail down the street, but she insists that Marybeth take Sue and Desiree along for any shopping expeditions to the downtown department stores. Which one of the following conclusions can be logically inferred from the statements above? (A) If Marybeth is shopping alone, then she is not shopping at a department store. (B) If Marybeth is shopping, then Sue and Desiree are with her. (C) If Desiree is not with Marybeth, then Marybeth is not shopping. (D) If Marybeth is shopping at the downtown department stores, then Sue is with her. (E) If Desiree and Sue are with her, then Marybeth is shopping at the downtown department stores. 3.
The owners of an Italian bicycle manufacturing company, unhappy that 20 percent of their new “Street Fleet” bicycles came back for repair within six months of purchase, recalled every “Street Fleet” bicycle and altered them to make them less susceptible to ordinary wear and tear. They improved the construction by switching to an equally lightweight but sturdier metal. and by increasing the number of spokes supporting the rim. The company renamed the new bikes “Rough Rider,” and in six months sold roughly the same number of these as the original “Street Fleets.” Despite the improvements 50 percent of the “Rough Riders” came back for repairs within six months of purchase.
Which one of the following, if true, most helps to explain the unexpected results noted in the passage? (A) The higher costs of tire new manufacturing process have forced the owners to close one of their two service centres. (B) The company’s new promotional literature on the “Rough Rider” now appeals to customers more apt to ride the bikes on unusually rough terrain. (C) The company has broadened its warranty on the “Rough, Rider” so that it now covers parts as well as labor. Question continues over page
Section One: Explanations 1. (C) The author concludes that if civilians are to be kept out of harm’s way, then any kind of armed conflict near populated areas is unacceptable. The missing link is the idea that armed conflict near populated areas will necessarily endanger civilian lives. If this weren’t the case, then civilian safety could remain a priority while the warring forces in question romped around populated areas waging their armed conflict. In other words, if the conclusion is to stand, it must be assumed that there’s no way to simultaneously engage in armed conflict near populated areas and maintain civilian safety. (A) This is a scope error. The issue is armed conflict near populated areas, not armed conflict in general. (B) The author tends to suggest the opposite: liberating the conquered islands will endanger the lives of civilians, which implies that conflict is inevitable. (D) This one is tricky. If the author’s only statement was, “We must refrain from liberating the conquered islands because the lives of some civilians would be endangered,” then (D) would be a fair assumption. However; the author begins with the word if, suggesting that holding off on liberation in favor of civilian safety isn’t a foregone conclusion. The author may, in fact, favor liberation, civilians be damned-the antithesis of (D). (E) The author may be leading to this conclusion (although we don’t know for sure), but that doesn’t mean that the argument depends on its being true. Remember: ƒ
An assumption bridges the gap between evidence and conclusion. It’s a piece of information that the argument depends on for the conclusion to remain valid.
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The Denial Test can be used to check answers to assumption questions. Deny or negate your choice and see if the argument falls apart. If it does fall apart, the answer is correct. If the conclusion is unaffected, the choice is wrong.
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Read choices critically with meticulous attention to detail. Choices (A) and (C) are virtually identical but for the phrase populated areas, which alone is the difference between a point and a wrong answer.
UMATSUCCESS SUPERPREP COURSES
PRE-COURSE STUDY MATERIALS PART 2 INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION
CONTENTS GENERAL INTRODUCTION SECTION 1: PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT Empathy Honesty SECTION 2: COMMUNICATION SKILLS Conflict Resolution Appropriate Communication SECTION 3: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Professional Conduct Prioritising Skills
TIMED TRIAL TESTS........... SECTION 1: PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT Empathy Answers Honesty Answers SECTION 2: COMMUNICATION SKILLS Conflict Resolution Answers Appropriate Communication Answers SECTION 3: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Professional Conduct Answers Prioritising Skills Answers
General introduction:
The purpose of this book is to provide a structured preparation for all Health Professionals wishing to review or learn initially, interpersonal skills essential to the practice of their occupation.The topic of Interpersonal Skills has been divided into three main sections dealing with the three important recurring aspects of interpersonal communication: Personal development Communication skills Professional development
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The first section deals with qualities. These are attitudes that people have towards other people that are engendered from a young age. However, the principles surrounding many personal qualities can be taught, and through the process of education and personal development, certain qualities can be fostered. The latter two sections are about skills. These are different in that they are less likely to be innate and have to be taught. Most people will have some basic proficiency at communication skills and professional conduct, as these are skills we use on a day to day basis. In a profession such as medicine, it has been necessary to foster and teach these in a specific context, as there are ethical and legal ramifications attached to our behaviour when we interact with people in a professional context. Each section has been divided into two categories as follows: Section 1: Personal development
Section2: Communication skills
Section3: Professional development
Qualities:
Skills:
Skills:
1.1 Empathy
2.1 Conflict resolution
3.1 Professional conduct
1.2 Honesty
2.2 Appropriate communication
3.2 Prioritising skills
Section 1: PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT: 1.1 Empathy:
What is empathy? Empathy may be defined as the ability to accurately perceive the feelings of another person and to communicate this understanding to that person. Empathy is important in any healthcare setting as it allows the healthcare professional to understand the patient’s needs and also deepens the relationship between carer and patient. This ultimately results in better treatment of the patient and better patient compliance with that treatment. There are several general guidelines for developing empathic understanding. The most important are: ‰
Listening: Empathy can perhaps best be achieved through the process of carefully listening and attending to the other person. The ear is often as important as the eye in medical practice and other healthcare professions.
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Relating: This means understanding the problem from the patient’s point of view. (Health care workers often learn the value of empathy when they themselves fall sick and can then relate to the feelings of other people who are ill.)
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Reassuring: The ability to provide reassurance to another person is important. In a medical setting, reassurance may often contain medical information, which should always be explained in such a way that the patient can understand it easily.
The Health Professional should be aware that many questions in the Interaction Skills section will examine basic attitudes toward patient empathy. The following examples all illustrate the principles of listening to the patient’s concerns, relating to their problem and then offering some form of reassurance or explanation. Example:1 Category: Empathy Scenario: You are a nurse looking after a teenage boy who is awaiting a major operation to remove a bone tumour near his knee. He is very anxious as he has never had an operation before and is worried that he may not be able to walk normally again. As you are preparing him for his operation, he starts crying. What do you do? Choices: a) You have other patients to prepare for their operations and hurriedly rush off and get on with your duties. b) You sit down with him for as long as you can, listen to his concerns, and try to reassure him that he will most probably make a good recovery and will be able to walk again given time. c) You tell him not to be silly and that he is old enough to be brave and handle the situation. d) You sternly tell him to pull himself together and that if he does not have the operation the tumour might kill him. e) You quietly leave his room so that neither of you will be embarrassed. Answer: The preferred answer is (b). Discussion: This question deals with compassion and understanding. As a professional dealing with the care of patients, you are often required to help them with their emotional and psychological concerns. Responses (a), (c) and (d) dismiss the patient’s need for reassurance and lack empathy. Response (e) avoids dealing with the issue. Response (b) demonstrates caring and concern – the little extra time taken to reassure the patient can go a long way towards allaying his fears. Example: 2 Category: Empathy Scenario: You are a junior doctor who is rostered off for the afternoon. At 11.00 AM you visit an elderly patient who has been under your care for a few weeks, and is having an operation that afternoon. The old man asks you if you could please spend some time with him, as he is very anxious about his operation, and would like to ask you a few questions. You spend a while with the patient, and then decide to go home as you have an arranged commitment to attend to. The old man desperately asks if you can’t stay longer. What do you say to the patient? Choices:
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