ArticleThe European journal of general practice2017
Association between low empathy and high burnout among primary care physicians and nurses in Lleida, Spain.
Article in The European journal of general practice, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 61 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
61 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 131 citations in OpenAlex.
- Examining the relationship between empathy and burnout in dental students: a systematic review.Evidence-based dentistry · 2025Pooled it
- Online programs to strengthen the mental health of medical students: A systematic review of the literature.Medical education online · 2022Pooled it
- Predictors of Physician Compassion, Empathy, and Related Constructs: a Systematic Review.Journal of general internal medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Burnout among general practitioners, a systematic quantitative review of the literature on determinants of burnout and their ecological value.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Pooled it
- Burnout prevalence among European physicians: a systematic review and meta-analysis.International archives of occupational and environmental health · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Burnout syndrome among Tobagonian healthcare-workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Burnout and empathy in dental students: a cross-sectional study of their association and related factors.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- Empathy as an Essential Skill of Interprofessional Collaboration in Healthcare: A Narrative Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Empathy and Burnout Among Nurses: a Cross-Sectional Study in a University Hospital in Central Greece.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Article
- Family satisfaction with the end-of-life discussions and resuscitation orders for patients with severe COVID-19: a multicenter study in Saudi Arabia.BMC medical ethics · 2025Article
- Affective states and stress in health-professional caregivers of people with functional diversity: the important role of empathy and social support as mediators of this relationship.Investigacion y educacion en enfermeria · 2025Article
- The moderating effect of working years on nurses' medical narrative ability and empathy ability: a cross-sectional survey study.BMC nursing · 2025Article
- Relationship between empathy and burnout as well as potential affecting and mediating factors from the perspective of clinical nurses: a systematic review.BMC nursing · 2025Article
- Mediating role of self-compassion in relationship between attachment styles and empathy in nurses.BMC nursing · 2024Article
- Compassion Satisfaction, Burnout, and Secondary Traumatic Stress among Saudi Nurses at Medical City: A Cross-Sectional Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Cross-Sectional Study of the Professional Quality of Life of Palliative Care Professionals during the COVID-19 Pandemic.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- A scoping review on the relationship between mental wellbeing and medical professionalism.Medical education online · 2023Article
- Empathy and Occupational Health and Well-Being in Ecuadorian Physicians Working with COVID-19 Patients: A Mixed-Method Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Provision of Compassionate and Empathic Care as a Well-Being Preservation Tool for Emergency Physicians: A Scoping Review.Open access emergency medicine : OAEM · 2023Article
1 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBurnout is a growing problem among healthcare professionals and may be mitigated and even prevented by measures designed to promote empathy and resilience.
objectivesWe studied the association between burnout and empathy in primary care practitioners in Lleida, Spain and investigated possible differences according to age, sex, profession, and place of practice (urban versus rural).
methodsAll general practitioners (GPs) and family nurses in the health district of Lleida (population 366 000) were asked by email to anonymously complete the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE) between May and July 2014. Tool consistency was evaluated by Cronbach's α, the association between empathy and burnout by Spearman's correlation coefficient, and the association between burnout and empathy and sociodemographic variables by the χ
resultsOne hundred and thirty-six GPs and 131 nurses (52.7% response rate) from six urban and 16 rural practices participated (78.3% women); 33.3% of respondents had low empathy, while 3.7% had high burnout. The MBI and JSPE were correlated (P < .001) and low burnout was associated with high empathy (P < .05). Age and sex had no influence on burnout or empathy.
conclusionAlthough burnout was relatively uncommon in our sample, it was associated with low levels of empathy. This finding and our observation of lower empathy levels in rural settings require further investigation. [Box: see text].
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