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Medical students' experiences when empathizing with patients' emotional issues during a medical interview - a
Knut Ørnes Brodahl1, Hanne-Lise Eikeland Storøy2, Arnstein Finset3
1Centre for Medical Ethics, University of Oslo, Kirkeveien 166, Fredrik Holsts hus, 0450, Oslo, Norway. k.o.brodahl@medisin.uio.no.
BMC Medical Education
|March 5, 2022
Summary
Medical students face challenges empathizing with patients due to prioritizing medical tasks and professional norms over emotional connection. Educators should foster reflection to improve empathy skills during clinical training.
Area of Science:
- Medical Education
- Empathy Studies
- Qualitative Research
Background:
- Empathy decline in medical students during clinical training is documented.
- Limited research explores students' lived experiences of empathy in clinical settings.
- This study investigates medical students' perceptions of empathizing with patients' emotional concerns.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore third-year medical students' experiences and reflections on empathy during patient encounters.
- To identify factors influencing empathy in medical students within simulated clinical interviews.
Main Methods:
- Qualitative content analysis of semi-structured interviews with 11 third-year medical students.
- Video-stimulated recall using recordings of student interviews with a simulated patient.
Main Results:
- Five themes emerged: prioritizing medical history, misinterpreting patient worry, perspective conflicts, viewing empathy as technical skill, and adopting a distant professional role.
- Students reported conflicts between medical agendas, professional norms, and their own empathic judgments.
- These factors potentially hinder authentic empathic engagement.
Conclusions:
- This study offers novel insights into medical students' perspectives on empathy barriers.
- Educators should implement group reflection and discussion to mitigate negative impacts on empathy.
- Addressing these challenges is crucial for fostering empathy in clinical training and practice.
Keywords:
Clinical interviewCommunicationEmpathyMedical educationMedical studentsPatients’ emotionsPhysician-patient relationshipPhysicians’ roleProfessionalismMore Related Videos
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