RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate empathy in medical students of the Evangelical University, Republic of El Salvador. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in which empathy levels, as well as the reliability of the data, were measured in 640 students. The mean and standard deviation were estimated in two factors: gender and courses studied. The data were processed using bi-factorial variance analysis (modeliii), calculating the effect size, power of the test, and the possible growth potential of the empathy and of each of its components considering the gender. The level of significance was α≤.05 and ß≥0.80. The SPSS 22.0 statistics program was used. RESULTS: Differences were found between courses and gender. The differences between courses in empathy are due to values by males in specific components. The model of decline in empathy and in the component, compassionate care, is not fulfilled. CONCLUSIONS: The levels of empathy between the genders were higher in males than in females, and similar in the compassionate care component. This is not consistent with the idea that women have higher levels of empathy than the men. There are differences in the behaviour of the means depending on the course and gender, and the empathy decline model is fulfilled only in two of its components. The characteristics indicated constitute the diagnosis of the empathy situation and constitute a guide to construct an intervention.