Empathy Scores of “Ankara University School of Medicine” Fifth Year Students in Two Different Curricula; a Preliminary Report

Abstract

Aim: In 2002 -2003 education term, Ankara University School of Medicine introduced an inte-grated, student-centered curriculum composed primarily of competency-based professional skills and problem-based courses. Prior to the introduction of the new curriculum, a discipline-based, traditional curriculum was used. Both curricula ran parallel until the last class of traditionally educated students graduated in 2007. The purpose of this study was to compare the empathy scores in medical students in their fifth year in relation to their curricula.Method: The research groups consisted of 194 fifth year students educated with a traditional curriculum and 127 fifth year students educated with the new curriculum. 'The Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy' was used to measure the empathy scores of the students, which included 20 items with a 7-point Likert scale. t-test was used to compare the empathy scores by curricula.Results: The results showed that the empathy scores of the traditionally educated fifth year students were significantly different when compared with fifth year students who received the student centered curriculum.Conclusion: This study reports "preliminary data" of the probable effect of student-centered curriculum on empathy. The authors suggest that the new curriculum may improve the medical students' empathy skills. However careful interpretation is necessary for the results obtained due to the limitations of the present study.