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Maintaining empathy in medical school: it is possible
1University of Western Sydney , Australia.
Medical Teacher
|June 21, 2013
Summary
Medical student empathy shows a gender difference, with females scoring higher. Personal and professional development courses may help preserve empathy in medical schools.
Area of Science:
- Medical Education
- Psychology
- Professionalism in Medicine
Background:
- Empathy is crucial for medical professionalism.
- Concerns exist about declining medical student empathy during education.
Purpose of the Study:
- Compare empathy levels across undergraduate medical education years.
- Examine empathy differences based on gender, year, background, and specific programs.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional study using the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy, Student version (JSPE-S).
- Survey included demographics, education stage, and personal/professional development (PPD) program completion.
Main Results:
- Female students exhibited significantly higher empathy scores than males (p < 0.001).
- No significant difference in total empathy scores by year of study.
- Year five students who completed PPD courses scored highest.
Conclusions:
- Empathy levels differ by gender, favoring females.
- Empathy may be maintained through careful student selection and PPD courses.
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