Physician Empathy in Public and Private Internal Medicine Residency Training Programs in Pasig City

@#RESEARCH QUESTION: What are the levels of patient-perceived and self-assessed physician empathy among internal medicine (IM) residents in two tertiary hospitals in Pasig City? Is there a significant difference in patient-perceived and selfassessed physician empathy levels between public and private tertiary hospitals? Background: Empathy is important because it has been speculated to have a positive effect on patient outcomes; it is a skill that can be learned and developed. OBJECTIVES: This study obtained quantitative measurements of patient-perceived and self-assessed physician empathy. Empathy levels between public and private tertiary hospitals were compared. GENERAL STUDY DESIGN : This study utilized a quantitative cross-sectional design, with surveys as the strategy for data collection. PARTICIPANTS: 162 out-patient department patients aged 19-75, and 69 IM residents were sampled from one private and one public tertiary hospital. OUTCOME MEASURES: The Jefferson Scale of Patient Perceptions of Physician Empathy (JSPPPE) and the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSE) were used to measure the empathy levels. ANALYSIS: Sample size calculation was done using OpenEpi. An alpha level of 0.05 was used for computing the independent samples t-test. RESULTS: Internal Medicine patients from the private hospital rated the physicians with higher empathy scores (mean=31.23) compared to their public hospital counterparts (mean=29.01), which is statistically significant (p=.0134). Residents from the private hospital also scored a higher self-assessed empathy score (mean=110.46) compared to physicians from the public hospital (mean=102.13), which is also statistically significant (p=.0147). CONCLUSION: This study provided preliminary information on the empathy levels of physicians in the Philippine setting between private and public hospitals, showing that physician empathy levels are consistently higher in the private hospital facility. The results can help hospitals incorporate or improve training in empathy in internal medicine residency programs, as empathy is known to affect patient health outcomes.

Differences and changes in the empathy of Korean medical students according to gender and vocational aptitude, before and after clerkship / 한국의학교육

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to determine whether there is any change in the empathy scores of third-year medical graduate students after they have taken a clerkship and have begun gaining more opportunities to meet patients through the clerkship. METHODS: The participants were 109 third-year students in 2014 and 110 fourth-year students in 2015 at Kyungpook National University, School of Medicine. The author measured empathy using a modified and expanded version of the Korean version of the Jefferson Scale of Empathy of Physician Empathy-Student version and used the Holland-III aptitude test-S to assess vocational aptitude. RESULTS: As a results, male students in their third year exhibited higher scores, but there was no significant difference in the fourth year. The empathy score increased slightly when third-year students became fourth-year students, but the difference was not statistically significant. There was no statistically significant change in the scores of both male and female students between the 2 years. The results of the vocational aptitude test showed that students who preferred person-oriented specialties had higher empathy scores when they entered their fourth academic year compared to objectively-oriented students. CONCLUSION: In this study, male students showed higher empathy scores than female students, an atypical finding that was inconsistent with the results of previous studies. However, the distribution of scores among male students was wider than that of female students, a finding consistent with previous studies. As such, individual differences need to be considered when developing curriculum in order to improve the empathy of medical students.

Empathy and burnout: a study on residents from a Singapore institution

INTRODUCTION@#Empathy and burnout are two entities that are important in a physician's career. They are likely to relate to each other and can be heavily influenced by surrounding factors, such as medical education, local practices and cultural expectations. To our knowledge, empathy and burnout studies have not been performed in Singapore. This study was designed to evaluate empathy and burnout levels using the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE) and Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) among residents in Singapore, and compare them with the United States (US) literature.@*METHODS@#The JSPE, MBI and a self-designed questionnaire were completed by 446 trainees at a residency-sponsoring institution in Singapore.@*RESULTS@#Residents in Singapore had lower empathy and higher rates of burnout compared to US literature. Physician empathy was associated with burnout: residents with higher empathy scores had higher personal accomplishment (p < 0.001, r = 0.477, r = 0.200); and lower emotional exhaustion (p < 0.001, r = 0.187, r = 0.035) and depersonalisation (p < 0.001, r = 0.321, r = 0.103) scores.@*CONCLUSION@#Residents in Singapore had lower empathy and higher burnout scores compared to the US literature. Further research into the underlying cause is imperative to guide intervention.

Empathy and Emotional Intelligence in Dental Practitioners of Bareilly City – A Cross sectional Study.

Background & objectives: Empathy and Emotional Intelligence are the two affective domain parameters which significantly affect a doctor’s way of treating patients; hence they may influence the doctor-patient relationship. Establishing a proper doctor-patient relationship has a great impact on professional success of the doctor. Thus, the present study was aimed to assess whether there is any association between empathy of dental practitioners towards their patients and the dental practitioners’ emotional intelligence. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 243 dental practitioners including clinicians, academicians and post-graduate students from Bareilly city who were instructed to complete a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of the Health Professional (HP) version of the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE) and the Schutte’s Emotional Intelligence Scale (SEIS). Pearson’s correlation coefficient and linear regression were used to test the statistical significance of the observations. Results: A positive correlation was found between empathy and emotional intelligence. The correlation was significant p=0.05, even after adjusting for the confounders and the regression model showed significance with r value of 0.12 Interpretation & Conclusion: Empathetic dentists were found to have higher emotional intelligence. Irrespective of variations in age, gender, qualification, occupation and years of working experience, empathy and emotional intelligence showed positive correlation.

Orientación empática de estudiantes de medicina en tres universidades de Barranquilla, Colombia y en una universidad de República Dominicana / Empathic orientation among medical students from three universities in Barranquilla, Colombia and one university in the Dominican Republic

Objetivo. Comparar la orientación empática entre estudiantes de Medicina de tres facultades de Medicina de Colombia y una de República Dominicana. Material y métodos. Se midió la orientación empática de los estudiantes de Medicina mediante la escala de empatía médica de Jefferson, en la versión en español para estudiantes (versión S) validada en México y Chile, y adaptada culturalmente a Colombia y República Dominicana. Los datos se compararon mediante un análisis de varianza trifactorial (modelo III) y por un análisis discriminante. Resultados. No se encontraron diferencias de orientación empática entre los cursos ni entre los sexos, pero sí entre las facultades de Medicina consideradas como una unidad en cada uno de los países estudiados. Conclusiones. Los niveles de orientación empática tienden a disminuir a medida que los cursos avanzan. Este hecho se produce en estudiantes de ambos sexos y en todas las facultades analizadas.

Objective. To compare empathic orientation among medical students from three schools of medicine in Colombia and one in the Dominican Republic. Material and Methods. Empathic orientation of medical students was measured using the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE), Spanish version for students (the "S" version) validated in Mexico and Chile, and culturally adapted to Colombia and the Dominican Republic. Data were compared using a three-factor analysis of variance (model III) and a discriminant analysis. Results. No differences in empathic orientation were observed among courses and between sexes, but differences were found in schools of medicine considered as a unit in each studied country. Conclusions. Empathic orientation levels tend to reduce as courses advance. This was observed in both male and female students and in all schools analyzed.

Niveles de orientación empática en los estudiantes de Odontología / Evaluation of empathetic orientation in Odontology students

El objetivo del presente trabajo es evaluar la orientación empática, considerando los factores curso y género, en los estudiantes de la carrera de Odontología de la Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud de la Universidad Latinoamericana de Ciencias y Tecnología (ULACIT) de Costa Rica. Se tomó una muestra de 225 estudiantes pertenecientes al equivalente de los niveles 1ro., 2do., 3ro., 4to. y 5to. de la Carrera de Odontología. Se encuestaron con una herramienta llamada Escala de Empatía para Odontólogos de Jefferson, versión S, durante una semana, un día determinado por nivel. Después de realizar el análisis estadístico se encontró que los años superiores muestran niveles de orientación empática mayores que el resto de los cursos examinados en ambos géneros. Esto se debe al aumento, en la práctica clínica, de los estudiantes al final de la carrera y a la responsabilidad y compromiso que llegan a tener con sus pacientes. Además, en general, la orientación empática es mayor en el género femenino que en el masculino y esta va evolucionando de diferente forma para ambos géneros a lo largo de la carrera(AU)

The aim of the present work is to evaluate the emphatic orientation, considering the gender and course factors, in Odontology students in the Health Sciences Faculty of the Latin American University of Sciences and Technology in Costa Rica. The sample was composed of 225 students from the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th levels in Odontology Studies. They were inquired using a tool called The Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy-Student Version (JSPE-S) during a week, a determined day per level. After carrying out the statistical analysis, it was found that the higher levels show higher levels of empathetic orientation than the rest of the courses examined in both genders. It is due to the increase of the students' clinical practice at the end of the studies and to the responsibility and commitment they achieve with their patients. Also, in general, empathetic orientation is higher in females than in males and it is evolving differently through years of studies(AU)

Validity and reliability of the Japanese versions of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form and the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy / 医学教育

  Emotional intelligence and empathy are crucial in patient–physician relationships and clinical outcomes. It has been reported that both emotional intelligence and empathy decrease as students advance through medical school. This study aimed to validate Japanese versions of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire–Short Form （TEIQue–SF）, developed by Petrides and Furnham （2001）, and the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy （JSPE）, developed by Hojat et al. （2001）.<br>1）The TEIQue–SF and JSPE were translated and administered to 370 medical students. Valid responses were obtained from 321 students（88%）.<br>2）Cronbach’s alpha for internal reliability was high for both the TEIQue–SF （0.87） and the JSPE （0.89）. All item total score correlations were positive for both the TEIQue–SF （range, 0.29 to 0.64） and the JSPE （range, 0.27 to 0.72）.<br>3）Cronbach’s alpha was smaller if an item was deleted than if all items were included for both the TEIQue–SF （0.84–0.85） and the JSPE （0.81–0.86）.<br>4）Factor analysis of both the TEIQue–SF and the JSPE revealed that the Japanese versions had some structural differences from the original versions. However, criterion–related analysis showed that the TEIQue–SF and the JSPE were highly correlated with the NEO–Five Factor Inventory, a measure of the Big Five personality traits.<br>5）These findings provide support for the construct validity and reliability of the Japanese versions of the TEIQue–SF and the JSPE when used for medical students. Further investigation is needed.