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Related Experiment Videos

Using theater to teach clinical empathy: a pilot study.

Alan W Dow1, David Leong, Aaron Anderson

  • 1Department of Internal Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23298-0102, USA. awdow@vcu.edu

Journal of General Internal Medicine
|May 9, 2007
PubMed
Summary
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Medical residents can learn clinical empathy skills through theater training. This study shows that integrating arts education significantly improves empathy in physicians, enhancing the doctor-patient relationship.

Area of Science:

  • Medical Education
  • Clinical Psychology
  • Arts in Medicine

Background:

  • Clinical empathy is crucial for doctor-patient relationships but is rarely taught in graduate medical education.
  • There is a lack of research investigating the effectiveness of teaching clinical empathy.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine if medicine residents can acquire clinical empathy skills from theater professors.
  • To evaluate a novel curriculum integrating theater techniques for empathy training.

Main Methods:

  • A controlled trial was conducted with Internal Medicine residents at Virginia Commonwealth University.
  • The intervention group received six hours of instruction from theater professors, focusing on empathy techniques.
  • Empathy was measured using an instrument assessing real-time patient encounters, with statistical analysis comparing pre- and post-intervention scores between groups.

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Main Results:

  • Residents in the intervention group showed significant improvements across all six empathy subscores post-training (p < or = .011).
  • The intervention group outperformed the control group in five of the six empathy subscores (p < or = .01).

Conclusions:

  • Collaborative programs between theater and medicine departments can effectively teach clinical empathy.
  • This interdisciplinary approach offers a promising method for enhancing physician empathy.