Empathy in osteopathic medical students: a cross-sectional analysis

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Psychology
• Healthcare Professionalism

Background:

• Empathy is crucial for effective patient care.
• Previous research indicates a decline in empathy among allopathic medical students by their third year.
• Empathy trends in osteopathic medical students remain under-explored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess empathy differences in osteopathic medical students across different academic years.
• To compare empathy levels in osteopathic medical students with those of allopathic medical students.

Main Methods:

• The Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy-Student Version (JSPE-S) was administered anonymously to osteopathic medical students.
• Data analysis considered academic year, sex, planned specialty, and ethnicity.
• Scores were compared with existing data for allopathic medical students.

Main Results:

• No statistically significant differences in empathy scores were observed based on the year of schooling among osteopathic medical students.
• Demographic factors like sex, ethnicity, and specialty orientation did not significantly correlate with empathy levels by academic year.
• Mean JSPE-S scores for first- and second-year osteopathic medical students were lower than those reported for first- and second-year allopathic medical students.

Conclusions:

• Osteopathic medical students do not exhibit a significant decrease in empathy as they progress through their schooling.
• Initial empathy levels in early-stage osteopathic medical students may be lower than in early-stage allopathic medical students.
• Further investigation into factors influencing empathy in osteopathic medical education is warranted.