Evidence map›Paper›PMID 12389763›Full record

ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2002

Empathy and quality of care.

Stewart W Mercer, William J Reynolds

Registry-linked trialAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC
In one paragraph

Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2002. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05235035 (The Effect of Sleep Misalignment on the Cognitive Empathetic Ability to Recognize Pain and to Evaluate the Pain Intensity in Others as Competence for Qualitative Care), which is not on this map. Cited by 331 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
331citing papers in PubMed, 7 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT05235035 completednot on this mapstarted 2022, after this paper: background citation

The Effect of Sleep Misalignment on the Cognitive Empathetic Ability to Recognize Pain and to Evaluate the Pain Intensity in Others as Competence for Qualitative Care

TypeobservationalSponsorClaude Bernard UniversityRan2022 to 2022Enrolled30ConditionsEmpathy, Sleep, PainArmsNight shift work
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

331 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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  2. Exploring Communication Dynamics Between Patients and Healthcare Providers in Oncology: A Systematic Review.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2025
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271 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Stewart W MercerDepartment of General Practice, University of Glasgow. Stewmercer@aol.com
William J Reynolds

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Empathy is a complex multi-dimensional concept that has moral cognitive emotive and behavioural components Clinical empathy involves an ability to: (a) understand the patient's situation, perspective, and feelings (and their attached meanings); (b) to communicate that understanding and check its accuracy; and (c) to act on that understanding with the patient in a helpful (therapeutic) way. Research on the effect of empathy on health outcomes in primary care is lacking, but studies in mental health and in nursing suggest it plays a key role. Empathy can be improved and successfully taught at medical school especially if it is embedded in the students actual experiences with patients. A variety of assessment and feedback techniques have also been used in general medicine psychiatry and nursing. Further work is required to determine if clinical empathy needs to be, and can be, improved in the primary care setting.

Indexed as

EmpathyOutcome Assessment, Health CareHumansPhysician-Patient RelationsPrimary Health CareUnited Kingdom

Identifiers

PMID12389763
PMCPMC1316134

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.