Empathy in Medicine National Norms for the Jefferson Scale of Empathy: A Nationwide Project in Osteopathic Medical Education and Empathy (POMEE)

Abstract

Context: National norms are necessary to assess individual scores from validated instruments. Before undertaking this study, no national norms were available on empathy scores. The Project in Osteopathic Medical Education and Empathy (POMEE) provided a unique opportunity to develop the first national norms for medical students. Objective: To develop national norms for the assessments of osteopathic medical students' empathy scores on the broadly used and well-validated Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE) at all levels of osteopathic medical school education. Methods: Participants were students from 41 of 48 participating campuses of osteopathic medical schools. Students were invited to complete a web-based survey, which included the JSE, in the 2017-2018 academic year. Results: A total of 16,149 completed surveys were used to create national norm tables. Three national norm tables were developed for first-year matriculants and for students in preclinical (years 1 and 2) and clinical (years 3 and 4) phases of medical school. The norm tables allow any raw score on the JSE for male and female osteopathic medical students from matriculation to graduation to be converted to a percentile rank to assess an individual's score against national data. Conclusions: National norms developed in this project, for men and women and at different levels of medical school education, can not only be used for the assessment of student's individual scores on the JSE, but can also serve as a supplementary measure for admissions to medical school and postgraduate medical education programs.

Measurement of Empathy among Health Professionals During Syrian Crisis using the Syrian Empathy Scale

“…The ndings were consistent with previous ndings reported [40][41][42] who attributed this to qualitative variance in integrating emotional information between males and females genders that can affect the decision-making process [40]. Similarly, Hojat et al attributed this to social learning, genetic predisposition, and evolutionary underpinnings [43].…”

Empathy as related to gender, age, race and ethnicity, academic background and career interest: A nationwide study of osteopathic medical students in the United States

“…In other words, the differences between usable samples and their respective populations were not practically important on the aforementioned demographic variables (based on negligible effect sizes < 0.20). Population data were obtained from the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) (detailed findings presented elsewhere) 11 …”

“…Empirical research shows that medical students’ empathy is positively associated with how faculty members rate their clinical competence, 7 and physician's empathy has been found to predict positive clinical outcomes 8,9 . Significant correlations have also been reported between medical student's empathy and personality attributes conducive to relationship building (for a review see Hojat et al 10 and Hojat et al 11 ). Conversely, negative correlations have been found between empathy in medical and other health professions students and personal qualities detrimental to interpersonal relationships .…”

“…Conversely, negative correlations have been found between empathy in medical and other health professions students and personal qualities detrimental to interpersonal relationships . (for a review see Hojat et al 10 and Hojat et al 11 ). These findings suggest that empathic orientation can contribute both to the quality of interpersonal relations in general and to the outcomes of medical education and patient care in particular.…”

“…Although a number of studies have examined associations between empathy and gender amongst medical students, 10‐15 few have researched empathy and career interest in medical students, and empirical research on medical students’ empathy in relation to age, race and ethnicity, and academic background is scarce. Almost all published studies on the aforementioned issues involve single‐institution research using small and non‐probabilistic accessible sampling designs that limit the internal and external validity of the findings.…”