[Teaching empathy in medical education]

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Communication Skills
• Empathy in Healthcare

Background:

• First-year medical students exhibit diverse empathic tendencies and attitudes towards communication.
• Understanding these baseline differences is crucial for tailoring medical education.
• Assessing the impact of educational interventions on these core professional attributes is essential.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate differences in empathic tendencies and communication attitudes among first-year medical students.
• To evaluate the effect of a teaching period on these attributes.
• To explore the relationship between empathy and communication attitudes in medical practice.

Main Methods:

• Data collected from 36 first-year medical students using the Empathic Tendency Scale and Attitudes Towards Communication in Medical Practice Questionnaire.
• K-means cluster analysis used to group students based on initial empathy and communication scores.
• Pre- and post-teaching data analyzed to identify changes.

Main Results:

• At baseline, 25% of students had high empathic tendency (HET) and 75% had low empathic tendency (LET).
• 56% of students held positive attitudes towards communication, while 44% held negative attitudes.
• A trend towards change (p<0.10) was observed in both groups post-teaching, with negative changes in HET and positive changes in LET students.

Conclusions:

• Initial differences in empathic tendencies and communication attitudes among medical students were confirmed.
• Empathic tendency appears modifiable through appropriate teaching techniques.
• Targeted educational strategies may enhance both empathy and communication skills in future physicians.