Associations of medical student empathy with clinical competence

Casas, Rachel S.; Xuan, Ziming; Jackson, Angela; Stanfield, Lorraine; Harvey, Nanette; Chen, Daniel C.

doi:10.1016/j.pec.2016.11.006

Cited by 32 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…This finding suggests that empathy should constitute an important part of medical personnel’s competency and can be enhanced through training. 43 , 44 Narrative medicine education and other educational interventions are advised to carry out in order to improve medical professionals’ empathy abilities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of oncology nurses’ empathy on lung cancer patients’ cellular immunity

Yang¹,

Xiao²,

Cao³

et al. 2018

PRBM

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BackgroundMedical staff’s empathy is closely related to patients’ outcome. This research aimed to verify the influence of Chinese oncology nurses’ empathy on the cellular immunity of lung cancer patients.Materials and methodsThe study included 365 lung cancer patients, who were attended by 30 oncology nurses between October 2016 and May 2017. At the time of admission and discharge, flow cytometric analysis was used to measure the cellular immunity of patients, including T-cell subsets and natural killer (NK)-cell activity. The level of empathy of the oncology nurses was measured by the Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE, Chinese version). The nurses were divided into high, moderate, and low empathy groups based on JSE scores. Associations between the empathy shown by nurses and the cellular immunity of patients were examined.ResultsOn admission, there was no statistical difference in the cellular immunity of the patients taken care of by the three groups of nurses (P>0.05). At discharge, patients whose nurses were in the high empathy group reported significantly higher B-cell and NK-cell percentages than those whose nurses were in the low empathy group (P<0.001). There was a positive correlation between nurse empathy and percentage of B cells (P=0.003) and NK cells (P<0.001), but no correlation was found between empathy and percentage of CD3+, CD4+, and CD8+ cells. Multiple linear regression analyses indicated that nurse empathy significantly contributed to patient percentage of B cells and NK cells after controlling for patient demographics, disease conditions, and lifestyle.ConclusionThe effect of oncology nurses’ empathy on cellular immunity was confirmed in lung cancer patients, suggesting empathy education, such as narrative medicine education, should be strengthened to improve patient outcome.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of oncology nurses’ empathy on lung cancer patients’ cellular immunity

Yang¹,

Xiao²,

Cao³

et al. 2018

PRBM

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“…However, studies linking physician empathy with patient care outcomes have largely relied on physician’s self-reported empathy levels and the validity of this approach has been questioned by an observed lack of correlation between patients’ measures of physician empathy and physician’s self-assessed empathy [9, 10]. In medical students, self-reported empathy was positively associated with increased communication skills scores in an objective clinical skills examination (OSCE) [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Medical students’ empathy and attitudes towards professionalism: Relationship with personality, specialty preference and medical programme

et al. 2019

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Background Existing research has suggested that self-reported empathy in medical students is moderated by personality traits and diverse demographic and educational factors including age, gender, nationality, career aspirations, as well as year of curriculum. It is unclear how empathy, personality, and background factors might impact on students’ attitudes towards professionalism in medicine. Methods A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was conducted in first and final year medical students at an Irish medical school. The following instruments were administered: (a) Jefferson Scale of Empathy; (b) NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI-3); (c) Attitudes towards Professionalism Scale. Demographic and educational variables were also measured. Descriptive and correlational analysis was conducted to examine the association between empathy, personality, professionalism-related attitudes and additional measures. Regression analysis was used to examine determinants of attitudes towards professional behaviour. Results Both selected NEO-FFI personality traits and empathy were independently associated with distinct categories of professional behaviour. Specifically, Openness to Experience was associated with higher empathy scores, and higher ‘Social responsibility’. Extraversion was linked with higher scores on the “Personal characteristics” and “Interactions with team” categories, while Conscientiousness was also positively associated with “Personal characteristics”. In agreement with previous studies, the personality traits most associated empathy were Agreeableness and Openness to Experience. Empathy did not vary according to programme year or career specialty preference. Conclusions This study is the first to show that empathy and personality factors may act as determinants of students’ attitudes towards medical professionalism in a manner which is dependent upon category of professional behaviour.

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“…Hospitalrelated violent incidents have been shown to be closely related to poor doctor-patient communication [25]. Poor doctor-patient relationship may lower the students' clinical empathy which could further exacerbate the doctor-patient communication ultimately affecting the patients' prognosis [26,27]. In this study, we used experienced clinicians as role models to teach students about the value of empathy.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improve Management of Stress-related Mental Disorders in Chinese Medical Students: A Randomized Controlled Study

Rong

Chen

Dai

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background Depression, burnout and reduced clinical empathy are the most prevalent mental disorders in medical students. Effective strategies to improving the situations are lacking. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of teaching an interventional course tailored to the needs of senior Chinese medical students. Methods Our study enrolled a total of 146 senior medical students from Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University between March 2016 and June 2016 for analysis. The study designed an interventional course based on the preliminary data revealed by a pilot study group (5 pre-clinical students and 5 interns), and the control group got the traditional courses. Before and after the courses, our study required all students to complete five self-assessment questionnaires to evaluate the score of depression, burnout, empathy, self-efficacy (SE), and quality of life (QoL). Results After the courses, the interventional group had significantly higher empathy and QoL scores, compared to the control group (111.0 vs 106.0, P = .012, and 32 vs 29.5, P = .04, respectively). While depression scores in the interventional group were significantly lower than those in control group (P = .02). However, there were no significant differences in burnout and self-efficacy scores between both groups. Conclusions Our interventional course had a positive impact on the stress-related mental disorders of Chinese medical students, which may help provide novel information for incorporation into the “wellness curricula” of medical schools.

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Associations of medical student empathy with clinical competence

Cited by 32 publications

References 36 publications

Influence of oncology nurses’ empathy on lung cancer patients’ cellular immunity

Influence of oncology nurses’ empathy on lung cancer patients’ cellular immunity

Medical students’ empathy and attitudes towards professionalism: Relationship with personality, specialty preference and medical programme

Improve Management of Stress-related Mental Disorders in Chinese Medical Students: A Randomized Controlled Study

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Associations of medical student empathy with clinical competence

Cited by 32 publications

References 36 publications

Influence of oncology nurses&rsquo; empathy on lung cancer patients&rsquo; cellular immunity

Influence of oncology nurses&rsquo; empathy on lung cancer patients&rsquo; cellular immunity

Medical students’ empathy and attitudes towards professionalism: Relationship with personality, specialty preference and medical programme

Improve Management of Stress-related Mental Disorders in Chinese Medical Students: A Randomized Controlled Study

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Product

Resources

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Influence of oncology nurses’ empathy on lung cancer patients’ cellular immunity

Influence of oncology nurses’ empathy on lung cancer patients’ cellular immunity