Student empathy in standardized patient experiences: Applying concepts from a critical thinking emulation model

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Patient-Provider Communication
• Empathy in Healthcare

Background:

• Clinician empathy is crucial for patient outcomes, yet research on student-led, patient-based empathy demonstration is limited.
• There's a need for structured methods to teach and assess empathy in medical training.

Purpose of the Study:

• To create a learning guide detailing observable behaviors for emotional and cognitive empathy.
• To evaluate this guide's utility as a rubric for assessing empathy in standardized patient encounters.

Main Methods:

• Eleven standardized patients evaluated 80 D3 students using a 19-criterion rubric across four domains.
• Data collection included a 4-point interval scale and qualitative feedback.

Main Results:

• Students achieved high ratings, with 81.7% of criteria rated 'excellent'.
• Scores for Initiation and Treatment Planning were significantly higher than Health History (p < 0.05).
• Qualitative feedback was largely positive, especially for Treatment Planning.

Conclusions:

• The developed model effectively serves as both a learning tool and assessment rubric for observable empathy in a standardized patient format.
• Future work includes refining a core skillset for empathy reinforcement and further defining observable empathy components.