Abstract
BackgroundEmpathy is an important competence in the professional development of medical students. The purpose of our study was to compare the levels and scales of empathy in people studying in different educational strategies.MethodsThe study was conducted between April 2019 and March 2020. Medicine, nursing, midwifery, physiotherapy, psychology, pedagogy and sociology students were the participants of this study. University students preparing for medical professions (n = 1001) and students of programs unrelated to medicine (n = 700) underwent the Empathy Quotient test (EQ-40). We have compared results in both study groups with the use of the distribution of density, analysis of variance and student’s t-test.ResultsThe average results received by students of the university preparing for medical professions were lower (M = 42.6) than those of the non-medical university students (M = 45.3) and the differences between the universities turned out to be statistically important (t = − 5.15, df = 1699, p < 0.001). As many as 14.6% of the students in the 1st EQ class were preparing for various medical professions while 9% studied social sciences. 18.2% of all medical programme students (n = 412) manifested the lowest empathy class. Our research has revealed that the students with Asperger profile (AP) and high-functioning autism (HFA) studied at universities preparing for medical professions (n = 18) more frequently than at non-medical universities (n = 5).ConclusionsWe have noticed a serious indicator of erosion in the levels of empathy in medical students and an increase in the number of people with AP and HFA. Empathy decreases in students after the third year of their studies, regardless of the kind of university. We recommend an introduction of career counselling when specialization is being chosen.
Highlights
Empathy is an important competence in the professional development of medical students
We have noticed a serious indicator of erosion in the levels of empathy in medical students and an increase in the number of people with Asperger profile (AP) and high-functioning autism (HFA)
Comparing the above data to the validation values of the EQ-40 test and the average results received by the students whose fields of study were not related to medicine (M = 45.2), it must be noted that the students preparing for medical professions were characterised by a slightly lower level of empathy
Summary
Empathy is an important competence in the professional development of medical students. Empathy is one of the basic competences of health professionals, which they can utilize to provide successful patient-centred and relationship-centred care [1]. A high level of empathy is significant for the development of professionalism in students preparing for medical professions [2]. Sobczak et al BMC Medical Education (2021) 21:487 through the years of medical education, their levels of empathy decrease. Certain researchers seek explanation for this tendency in the clinical experience, that begins after the third year of education [12, 13]. We concluded that the findings of our research justify an attempt to verify such hypotheses, and that it is worthwhile to carry out a study focused on a comparison of the levels of empathy between medical and non-medical students
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