Family Loneliness: Its Effects in the Development of Empathy, Teamwork and Lifelong Learning Abilities in Medical Students.

CONTEXT: Family offers an important source of social support where individuals acquire social abilities that are necessary to create positive human relationships. This influence has been discussed by different sociological and psychological theories along the life span of individuals. In medicine, empathy, teamwork, and lifelong learning have been described as specific elements of professionalism that have special importance in the interaction with patients and in physicians' well-being at the workplace. This study was performed with the aim of demonstrating the following hypothesis: In the absence of specific training in empathy and teamwork and lifelong learning abilities, their development in medical students is associated with the students' perception of loneliness from their family environment. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was performed in the only two medical schools of Cusco (Peru), one private and the other public. Jefferson Scales of Empathy, Teamwork, and Lifelong Learning were used as the main measures. Mother-son and father-son relationships and family loneliness were measured to characterize the family environment. In addition, information related to sex, medical school, academic achievements, and place of origin were collected to control possible biases. Comparative, correlation, and multiple regression analyses were performed among the variables studied. RESULTS: In a sample of 818 medical students, differences by school appeared in empathy, teamwork, lifelong learning, and family loneliness. In addition, family loneliness showed an inverse correlation with empathy, teamwork, and learning measures. While having a positive relationship with the mother was associated with a greater development of empathy and learning abilities in the entire sample, a similar effect was observed in father-son relationships, but only in the private medical school group. Finally, in the public medical group, a multiple regression model explained 43% of the variability of empathy based on a lineal relationship with teamwork (p < 0.001), lifelong learning (p < 0.001), and family loneliness (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: These findings confirm how family loneliness is detrimental to the development of medical professionalism. Also, they support the important role that the family, and especially parents, plays in the development of empathy, teamwork, and abilities in medical students. Finally, these findings highlighted important differences among students enrolled in public and private medical schools.

Factors Related to the Differential Development of Inter-Professional Collaboration Abilities in Medicine and Nursing Students.

Introduction: For physicians and nurses, teamwork involves a set of communication and social skills, and specific training in interdisciplinary work in order to be able to work together cooperatively, sharing responsibilities, solving problems, and making decisions to carry out actions centered on patients' care. Recent studies demonstrate that in the absence of targeted interdisciplinary educational programs, the development of teamwork abilities is sensitive to the influence of the dominant work environment. The purpose of this study was to characterize the role that environmental and individual factors play in the development of teamwork in environments with a dominant hierarchical work model. Methods: Questionnaires were distributed to 1,880 undergraduate students (980 medicine students and 900 nursing students) from three universities of Cusco city (Peru). The Jefferson Scale of Attitudes toward Physician-Nurse Collaboration was used as the main variable. The Jefferson Scales of Empathy and Lifelong Learning, the Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale for Adults, the Scale of Life Satisfaction, sex, discipline, age, and academic semester were used as explanatory variables. After calculating internal reliability and normality of the main measures, descriptive, comparative, and correlation analyses were performed to determine variables influencing the teamwork score. Results: A total of 1,518 (81%) surveys were returned fully completed. Adequate reliability was confirmed in all instruments. In the sample, nursing students showed greater inter-professional collaborative abilities than medicine students (p < 0.001). This attitudinal gap was higher in advanced semesters. A three-way ANOVA indicated differences in teamwork were associated with discipline (p < 0.001), sex (p < 0.01), and university (p < 0.001). However, main effects were associated only with discipline (η p2 = 0.14). Teamwork showed an inverse correlation with loneliness (ρ = -0.28; p < 0.001) and a positive correlation with empathy (ρ = + 0.49; p < 0.001) and lifelong learning (ρ = + 0.48; p < 0.001). Teamwork positively correlated with life satisfaction only in the medicine student group (ρ = + 0.15; p < 0.001). Conclusion: These findings bring new evidence to support the main effect that social environments, in the absence of targeted interdisciplinary educational programs, play in the development of teamwork.