Enhancing and sustaining empathy in medical students

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Physician Competence
• Empathy Training

Background:

• Empathy is crucial for physician competence.
• Developing and enhancing empathy in medical students is essential.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if targeted activities can enhance medical students' empathy.
• To assess if these empathy enhancements can be sustained over time.

Main Methods:

• A two-phase study involving 248 medical students.
• Phase 1: Experimental group viewed patient encounter videos; control group watched a documentary.
• Phase 2: Experimental group split into lecture and non-lecture subgroups; control group watched a movie.

Main Results:

• Significant empathy improvement (Jefferson Scale of Empathy scores) in the experimental group in Phase 1.
• Sustained empathy improvement observed in the subgroup attending an empathy lecture in Phase 2.
• No significant empathy changes were noted in the control group throughout the study.

Conclusions:

• The study hypotheses were confirmed.
• Targeted educational interventions can effectively enhance and sustain empathy in medical students.