Evidence of declining empathy in third year osteopathic medical students
Introduction
The education of medical students should include approaches to facilitate their evolution into ethical, empathic physicians that are prepared to provide comprehensive medical care to all persons. In fact, previous studies in patients with chronic diseases have shown improved outcomes when they receive culturally sensitive care from empathetic health care providers.1, 2 Unfortunately, research has shown that empathy has been shown to decline as students progress through their medical education.3, 4, 5, 6 A study performed by Hojat and colleagues at Jefferson Medical College concluded that there is a decline in empathy that occurs throughout the third year of medical school, at a time when clinical clerkships begin and empathy is most crucial.3 Even further, this decreased empathy has been shown to continue throughout residency training.4 In our preliminary study, we aimed to determine if osteopathic medical students at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine exhibited a decline in empathy during their third year of coursework similar to that discovered in the studies mentioned above.
Section snippets
Materials and methods
Third Year Medical Students (N = 70) at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine participated in a small group-format psychiatry module (approximately twelve to fourteen hours of classroom instruction and discussion). Three hours of this instruction were specifically aimed at improving awareness and willingness to use motivational interviewing for health promotion and prevention in the context of cultural sensitivity and sensibility. Teaching methods included utilizing group
Results
Of those who completed the self-report questionnaires (N = 65), 21.5% (N = 14) were demonstrated to be empathetic, 38.5% (N = 25) non-empathetic and 40% (N = 26) indifferent (Fig. 1, Fig. 2, Fig. 3). Analysis of the data with one-tailed, paired t-tests resulted in a p-value equal to 0.268, indicating that the students were not significantly empathetic (p > 0.05). These findings support those found in larger studies at other institutions,3, 4, 5, 6 with a higher percentage of students in the
Discussion
Analysis of gathered questionnaire data indicated that a larger percentage of third year medical students at our institution lacked empathy in their responses to questions comparing their confidence in cultural sensitivity before and after a lecture on the topic. This project was the first of its kind at our institution and requires further development and refinement in order to decrease its limitations and increase its usefulness.
The results of Dr. Melanie Newmann and colleagues were
Conclusion
The inherently ambiguous meaning of empathy has contributed to confusion over its true meaning and, hence, there is no universally-accepted definition.7, 8, 9 However, a few meaningful definitions have been described: empathy is “the ability to appreciate the emotions and feelings of others”, the “physician's understanding of the patient and verbal and non-verbal communication of the physician resulting in a helpful therapeutic action” and “an attribute that enables doctors to understand the
IJOM author contribution statement
BB conceived the idea for the study, contributed to the design and planning of the research and was involved in data collection. HMC analyzed the data. BB and HMC wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors edited and approved the final version of the manuscript.
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