Empathy training in medical students - a randomized controlled trial.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Clinical Psychology
• Healthcare Communication

Background:

• Empathy is crucial for effective doctor-patient relationships.
• Medical curricula often lack specific training in empathy skills.
• Objective assessment of empathy in students is challenging.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of a specific empathy skills training program for medical students.
• To compare objective ratings of empathy with self-assessment outcomes.
• To determine if simulated patient interactions enhance empathy.

Main Methods:

• 158 medical students were randomized into an intervention (empathy training with simulated patients) and a control (history course) group.
• Empathy was assessed post-intervention using blinded simulated patients and experts in an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE).
• Student self-assessment of empathy was measured using the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy Student Version (JSPE-S-S).

Main Results:

• The intervention group demonstrated significantly higher empathy scores when assessed by simulated patients and experts compared to the control group.
• No significant differences in self-rated empathy were found between the intervention and control groups.
• Objective assessments revealed a positive impact of empathy skills training, while self-perceptions did not change.

Conclusions:

• Targeted empathy skills training, particularly with simulated patients, can effectively enhance observable empathy in medical students.
• Discrepancies between objective and self-rated empathy suggest a need for robust assessment methods in medical education.
• Integrating such training programs into medical school curricula is recommended to foster better doctor-patient relationships.