Empathy Can Be Taught, and Patients Teach it Best

Empathy is not so perfect! -For a descriptive and wide conception of empathy

Physician empathy is considered essential for good clinical care. Empirical evidence shows that it correlates with better patient satisfaction, compliance, and clinical outcomes. These data have nevertheless been criticized because of a lack of consistency and reliability. In this paper, we claim that these issues partly stem from the widespread idealization of empathy: we mistakenly assume that physician empathy always contributes to good care. This has prevented us from agreeing on a definition of empathy, from understanding the effects of its different components and from exploring its limits. This is problematic because physicians' ignorance of the risks of empathy and of strategies to manage them can impact their work and wellbeing negatively. To address this problem, we explore the effects of the potential components of empathy and argue that it should be conceived as a purely descriptive and wide term. We end by discussing implications for medical education.

Patient references in the 2005 and 2015 CanMEDS frameworks

Background

Patient involvement in postgraduate medical education (PGME) can help residents improve their communication, professionalism, and collaboration. The CanMEDS Framework defines such competencies for physicians and informs teaching and assessment activities in PGME. However, it is unclear how patients are referenced in the CanMEDS Framework and if these references encourage the active involvement of patients in PGME. To inform how patients are referenced in the revisions of the CanMEDS Framework, scheduled for publication in 2025, our aim was to determine how patients are referenced in each the 2005 and 2015 CanMEDS Frameworks.

Methods

We used document analysis to examine how the term 'patient(s)' is referenced in the 2005 and 2015 CanMEDS Frameworks.

Results

Several 2005 and 2015 CanMEDS Roles include patients in the descriptions but do not reference them in the competencies. Others do not reference patients in the descriptions or competencies, potentially detracting from the importance of involving patients. As it stands, the 2015 Health Advocate is the only Role that describes and references patients working with physicians as partners in care, facilitating potential opportunities for patient involvement in PGME.

Conclusion

There are inconsistencies in how patients are described and referenced as potential partners in PGME throughout past and present CanMEDS Frameworks. Understanding these inconsistencies can inform the revision of CanMEDS that is scheduled for publication in 2025.

Effects of video-recorded role-play and guided reflection on nursing student empathy, caring behavior and competence: A two-group pretest-posttest study

AIM

The study examined the differences in nursing student empathy, caring behavior and competence between the experimental and control groups before and after educational intervention and to predict the factors affecting their core competencies.

BACKGROUND

Educating nursing students in empathy and caring behaviors before entering clinical practice is challenging.

DESIGN

We used a two-group pretest and post-test quasi-experimental design.

METHODS

First-year nursing students from medical schools in Taiwan participated in our study. Data were collected between March and May 2022. The learning method used with the intervention group was role-playing with videos and guided reflection. The control group was exposed to traditional curriculum. Empathy, caring behavior and competence were measured using the Jefferson Scale of Empathy- Healthcare Providers, the Caring Behaviors Scale and the Nursing Student Competence Scale.

RESULT

A total of 72 participants (40 in the experimental group and 32 in the control group) were included in the final statistical analysis. The response rate was 92%. Statistically significant differences in nursing student empathy, caring behavior and competence were observed between the experimental and control groups (p < .05). The η² effect levels were 0.083, 0.223 and 0.270. Higher caring behavior scores were significantly associated with higher nursing student competence scores (β = 0.81, 95% CI:0.66-0.97).

CONCLUSIONS

Education based on video role-play and guided reflection improved empathy, caring behavior and nursing competence in first-year nursing students.

Awareness, Knowledge, Attitude and Empathy Levels of Dental Postgraduates Towards Their Patients During Practice and Research-A Questionnaire Based Survey

Empathy is vital in ensuring the quality of the patient-clinician relationship. Empathy in the health care setting is the ability to understand a patient's experiences and feelings and communicate this understanding for better clinical outcomes in dental treatments. The study aimed to compare levels of empathy in post-graduate dental students across the different years of the master's degree course. Questionnaire forms distributed among post graduate students and awareness, knowledge, attitude, and empathy levels towards their patients were assessed. Responses of all the post-graduate students of all specialties in a dental institute were subjected to statistical analysis to know and compare their empathy towards the patients during their clinical practice and research throughout their three-year master's degree. The mean empathy score was 52.01 (maximum of 100), with a standard deviation of 6.69. The empathy scores decreased slightly from the first to the third year of the master's degree. The participant's age, marital status, place of residence, and specialties of dental post-graduation showed much significant difference in empathy levels. The study found slight significant gender differences in empathy among the participants. The empathy scores declined gradually very slightly as they were promoted to the next level in the course. The increase in empathy levels found in this study is more significant than those reported in similar studies due to the inclusion of educational and orientation programs at the time of admission into post-graduate studies.