Presentation Description
NAMRATA CHHABRA1
Elize Archer2
1 American University of Antigua College of Medicine
2 Stellenbosch University
Elize Archer2
1 American University of Antigua College of Medicine
2 Stellenbosch University
Background
Empathy stands as a cornerstone in medical professionalism, significantly impacting patient outcomes and physician-patient rapport. While numerous academic entities stress its importance, evidence suggests potential empathy attrition during advanced medical training.
Summary of Work
This study employed a rigorous descriptive phenomenological methodology to probe the nuances of empathy development amongst undergraduate medical students, particularly discerning experiential facets that bolster or inhibit empathic tendencies.
Results
Contrary to prevailing literature suggesting empathy erosion, our data unearthed an upward trajectory in students' empathic orientations during their medical education course. Students delineated empathy into a quadripartite construct, comprising cognitive, affective, behavioral, and moral facets. Empathic interaction with patients was perceived not as a unidirectional but a bidirectional relational dynamism. Causal factors enhancing empathy were multifarious: authentic patient interactions, the salutary influence of positive educational exemplars, and individual maturation in emotional sagacity, self-assuredness, and behavioral modulation. However, systemic challenges, such as curriculum rigidity towards biomedical domains, academic inundation, and the dearth of structured empathy-focused pedagogy, surfaced as formidable barriers.
Discussion
These elucidations underscore the intricate interplay between intrinsic personal growth trajectories and extrinsic academic and environmental catalysts in sculpting students' empathic landscapes. The delineated barriers signify exigent domains that medical education frameworks need to recalibrate, accentuating an equilibrium between biomedical prowess and empathic competence.
Conclusions
Empathy, far from being a static inherent trait, emerges as a dynamic construct, continuously molded by a confluence of academic, experiential, and individual determinants. Medical academia must judiciously address these influencing vectors to foster a more empathic future physician cadre.
Take-Home Messages/Implications for Further Research or Practice
For robust empathy cultivation in medical aspirants, institutional imperatives should encompass the following:
- Infusion of structured, evidence-based empathy curricula.
- Enrichment of early and sustained clinical exposures to reinforce empathic praxis.
- Augmentation of pedagogical tools, including medical humanities, to encourage holistic, empathic development.
References (maximum three)
- Decety, J. 2020. Empathy in medicine: What it is, and how much we really need it. American Journal of Medicine, 133(5):561–566. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjmed.2019.12.012
- Krishnasamy, C., Ong, S.Y., Loo, M.E. & Thistlethwaite, J. 2019. How does medical education affect empathy and compassion in medical students? A meta-ethnography: BEME Guide No. 57. Medical Teacher, 4(11):1220–1231. https://doi.org/10.1080/0142159X.2019.1630731
- Neumann, M., Scheffer, C., Tauschel, D., Lutz, G., Wirtz, M. & Edelhäuser, F. 2012. Physician empathy: Definition, outcome relevance and its measurement in patient care and medical education. GMS Zeitschrift fur medizinische Ausbildung, 29(1), Art. 11.