Abstract
BackgroundEmpathy, as a core element of medical professionalism, is part of leadership in medicine. This attribute, predominantly cognitive, involves understanding and communication capacity. Empathy can be enhanced with courses on medical semiotics. It appears adequate to apply this enhancement in the early stages of professional training. Based on this, this study was performed with the purpose of demonstrating the positive effect that an academic course on medical semiotics has on the development of empathy in medical students.MethodsA quasi-experimental study was conducted in one School of Medicine in Peru, where medical students had to attend a 17-week course on medical semiotics as part of their regular training. The sample, composed by 269 students, included two cohorts of third-year medical students. As main measures, the Jefferson Scales of Empathy (JSE), inter-professional collaboration (JSAPNC), and lifelong learning (JeffSPLL), were used. In addition, students’ scores evaluating theoretical and practical aspects of the course were collected once the course was finished. Pre- and post-tests were administered in week 1 and in week 17. Analyses compared measures in both moments and in time. Inter-professional collaboration and lifelong learning scores and empathy scores were used as discriminant and convergent validity measures of students’ course scores, respectively.ResultsGender differences on empathy appeared, but only at the beginning. In the entire sample, empathy enhancement was confirmed in time (p < 0.001), with a large effect size (r = 0.45). This effect was also observed in both gender groups, separately. On the contrary, no changes appeared in inter-professional collaboration and in lifelong learning abilities in time. In addition, a positive correlation was observed among empathy, inter-professional collaboration and lifelong learning abilities at the beginning and at the end, confirming that the improvement observed was specific for empathy and explained by the educational intervention assessed.ConclusionThese findings bring empiric evidence supporting the positive effect that training in medical semiotics has on empathy. In addition, these findings highlight some gender differences in the development of empathy in medical students.
Highlights
Empathy in the Context of Emotional Intelligence and Leadership in MedicineEmpathy has been described as an important component of medical professionalism (Veloski and Hojat, 2006), and leadership in medicine (Hojat et al, 2015)
In the first week of classes in each semester, all students were invited to attend a workshop led by an external faculty who was part of the research team. They were informed that this study was starting with the aim of measuring the development of three specific competencies associated with medical professionalism
The entire sample of medical students who accepted to participate in the study and fully completed both questionnaires was composed by 86 male and 141 female students
Summary
Empathy in the Context of Emotional Intelligence and Leadership in MedicineEmpathy has been described as an important component of medical professionalism (Veloski and Hojat, 2006), and leadership in medicine (Hojat et al, 2015). Several studies have provided empirical support of the important role that empathy plays in health care linking it with positive clinical outcomes, quality of medical care, patients’ satisfaction and wellness at the workplace for healthcare professionals (Decety, 2020) This ability, in the specific context of clinical encounters, has been defined as a predominantly cognitive (rather than affective or emotional) professional competence. In relation with the third element, intention to help, some authors suggest that this component is the main one responsible of emotion regulation, described as emotional intelligence (Goleman, 1995), in healthcare professionals by controlling the personal distress that can be derived from the exposition to patients’ suffering (Decety and Jackson, 2004; Pokorski et al, 2013). This study was performed with the purpose of demonstrating the positive effect that an academic course on medical semiotics has on the development of empathy in medical students
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