Heartfelt Healers: Assessing Empathy Level of Medical Students toward Patient Management
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61919/jhrr.v3i2.284Keywords:
Empathy, Medical Students, Patient-Centered Care, Jefferson Scale of Empathy, Cross-Sectional StudyAbstract
Background: Empathy is a fundamental component in the medical field, essential for effective patient-centered care. It facilitates better patient outcomes, accurate diagnoses, and sound decision-making. Previous studies have indicated varying levels of empathy among medical students across different regions and cultures.
Objective: This study aimed to assess the empathy levels among medical students towards patients, focusing on a specific student population in Karachi, Pakistan. It sought to compare these levels with existing data from various international contexts and to understand the implications for medical education.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using the Jefferson Scale of Empathy-student version (JSE-S) among 150 undergraduate medical students from various medical institutes in Karachi, Pakistan. The JSE-S scale, comprising 20 items rated on a 7-point Likert scale, evaluates both positive and negatively worded items to determine empathy levels. Demographic data, including age, gender, cultural background, year of study, academic performance, and clinical exposure, were also collected. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 25.0, focusing on calculating frequencies, percentages, and mean scores.
Results: The overall mean empathy score was 98.7867, with positive items scoring a mean of 58.06 and negative items a mean of 40.77. These scores were slightly lower compared to studies from countries like China, Japan, Kuwait, Iran, and the United States but were similar to a regional study conducted in 2019 in Pakistan. Demographic analysis revealed a diverse cultural background with a balanced gender distribution and varied academic and clinical exposure.
Conclusion: The study highlights a moderate level of empathy among medical students in Karachi, suggesting the need for enhanced empathy training in medical curricula. The findings advocate for the implementation of educational strategies, including workshops and courses on empathic behavior and ethics, to strengthen empathy in future medical practitioners.
Downloads
References
Mostafa A, Hoque R, MostafaM,Rana MM, and Mostafa F. Empathy in Undergraduate Medical Students of Bangladesh: Psychometric Analysis and Differences by Gender, Academic Year, and Specialty Preferences. ISRN Psychiatry 2014; 1-7.
McTighe JA, DiTomasso AR, Felgoise S, Hojat M. Effect of Medical Education on Empathy in Osteopathic Medical Students. The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association 2016; 116(10), 668-674.
Berg K, Blatt B, Lopreiato J, Jung J, Schaeffer A, Heil D et al.. Standardized Patient Assessment of Medical Student Empathy: Ethnicity and Gender Effects in a Multi-Institutional Study. Academic Medicine 2015; 90(1), 105-111.
Hasan S, Al-Sharqawi N, Dashti F, AbdulAziz M, Abdullah A, Shukkur M, et al. Level of Empathy among Medical Students in Kuwait University, Kuwait. Medical Principles and Practice 2013; 22, 385-389.
Hojat M, Gonnella JS, Maxwell K. Jefferson Scales of Empathy (JSE) professional manual & user’s guide. Philadelphia: Jefferson Medical College Center for Research in Medical Education and Health Care. 2009.
Quince AT, Kinnersley P, Hales J, Silva DA, Moriarty H, Thiemann P, et al. Empathy among undergraduate medical students: A multi-centre cross-sectional comparison of students beginning and approaching the end of their course. BMC Medical Education 2016; 16(92), 1-10.
Hojat M, DeSantis J, Shannon CS, Mortensen HL, SpeicherRM, Bragan L, et al.. The Jeferson Scale of Empathy: a nationwide study of measurement properties, underlying components, latent variable structure, and national norms in medical students. Advances in Health Sciences Education 2018; 23, 899-920.
Chatterjee A, Ravikumar R, Singh S, Chauhan SP, Goel M. Clinical empathy in medical students in India measured using the Jefferson Scale of Empathy–Student Version. Journal of Educational Evaluation for Health Professions 2017; 14(33), 1-6.
Quince T, Thiemann P, Benson J, and Hyde S. Undergraduate medical students’ empathy: current perspectives. Advances in Medical Education and Practice 2016; 7, 443-455.
Williams B, Sadasivan S, Kadirvelu A, and OlaussenA.. Empathy levels among first year Malaysian medical students: an observational study. Advances in Medical Education and Practice 2014; 5, 149–156.
Paro HBMS, Silveira PSP, Perotta B, Gannam S, Enns SC, Giaxa BRR, et al. Empathy among Medical Students: Is There a Relation with Quality of Life and Burnout? PLoS ONE 2014; 9(4), 1-10.
Fields KS, Mahan P, Tillman P, Harris J, Maxwell K and Hojat M. Measuring empathy in healthcare profession students using the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy: Health provider – student version. Journal of Interprofessional Care 2011; 25, 25, 287–293.
Bilgel N, Ozcakir A. Turkish Version of the Jefferson Scale of Empathy Psychometric Properties. European Scientific Journal 2017; 13(20), 101-111.
Hong M, Lee HW, Park HJ, Yoon YT, Moon SD, Lee MS, et al. Changes of empathy in medical college and medical school students: 1-year follow up study. BMC Medical Education 2012; 12(122), 1-5.
Mirani HS, Shaikh AN, Tahir A. Assessment of Clinical Empathy Among Medical Students Using the Jefferson Scale of Empathy-Student Version. Cureus 2019; 11(2), 1-7.
Javed MQ. THE EVALUATION OF EMPATHY LEVEL OF UNDERGRADUATE DENTAL STUDENTS IN PAKISTAN: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY. Journal of Ayub Medical College Abbottabad. 2019 10; 31(3).
Fowler LA, Ellis S. The Effect of 12 Hour Shifts, Time of Day, and Sleepiness on Emotional Empathy and Burnout in Medical Students. Clocks & Sleep. 2019 1(4):501-9.
Pohontsch NJ, Stark A, Ehrhardt M, Kötter T, Scherer M. Influences on students’ empathy in medical education: an exploratory interview study with medical students in their third and last year. BMC medical education. 2018; 18(1):1-9.
Bahadur GCK, Paudel S. Study on Empathy among Undergraduate Students of the Medical Profession in Nepal. Journal of Biosciences and Medicines 2017; 5, 51-63.
Williams B, Brown T, McKenna L, Boyle JM, Palermo C, Nestel D, et al. Empathy levels among health professional students: a cross-sectional study at two universities in Australia. Advances in Medical Education and Practice 2014; 5, 107-113.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Ramsha Syed, Muhammad Asif, Muhammad Atif Khan, Hira Islam, Maheen Saleem, Malika Khan
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
