ArticleInternational journal of medical education2020
Can empathy be preserved in medical education?
Article in International journal of medical education, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Why might medical student empathy change throughout medical school? a systematic review and thematic synthesis of qualitative studies.BMC medical education · 2023Pooled it
- "It's why I'm the doctor that I am": a qualitative study of the long-term outcomes of a longitudinal service-learning medical education program.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- Mapping the humanistic care ecosystem in medical education: development and validation of a novel multidimensional instrument (HCS-ME).BMC medical education · 2026Article
- Stress exposure on compassion fatigue in internship nursing students: mediating roles of empathy, psychological capital, and perceived stress.BMC nursing · 2026Article
- Impact of sensitisation workshop on empathy levels among postgraduate students: A pre-post interventional study.Bioinformation · 2026Article
- Empathy Decline During Medical Training: Insights from a Novelist.Journal of general internal medicine · 2025Article
- Closing the Loop: Exploring Student-Mentors' Dual Roles in a Longitudinal Group Mentorship Course.Perspectives on medical education · 2025Article
- The impact of empathy on medical students: an integrative review.BMC medical education · 2024Review
- Comparison of empathy profiles of medical students at the start and in the advanced clinical phase of their training.GMS journal for medical education · 2024Article
- Mindset and Reflection-How to Sustainably Improve Intra- and Interpersonal Competences in Medical Education.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Empathy is not so perfect! -For a descriptive and wide conception of empathy.Medicine, health care, and philosophy · 2023Article
- Trends of Change in Empathy Among Indian Medical Students: A Two-Year Follow-Up Study.Indian journal of psychological medicine · 2023Article
- Action Research on Applying Compound Stimulus Approach to Improve Empathetic Communication: The Case of Physical Therapy Students.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Being kind in unkind spaces: a qualitative examination of how medical educators and first year medical students perceive empathy training.Frontiers in sociology · 2023Article
- The relationship between personality traits and learning styles in medical education students at Iran University of Medical Sciences: A cross-sectional study.Journal of education and health promotion · 2023Article
- Empathy as a learning objective in medical education: using phenomenology of learning theory to explore medical students' learning processes.BMC medical education · 2022Article
- Digitization in gynecology and obstetrics in times of COVID-19: Results of a national survey.Internet interventions · 2021Article
- The direct and indirect effects of clinical empathy on well-being among pre-medical students: a structural equation model approach.BMC medical education · 2021Article
- Telemedicine as a Therapeutic Option in Sports Medicine: Results of a Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study among Physicians and Patients in Germany.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesThe aim of this study was to investigate changes in empathy during medical education, as well as to identify promoters and inhibitors of empathy and analyse their roles.
methodsWe used qualitative content analysis to examine 69 critically reflective essays written by medical students as a part of their final examination at the end of the medical program. The essays were based on previous self-evaluations performed each term and represented retrospective reflections on their professional development.
resultsA majority of the students felt that their empathy did not decrease during medical education. On the contrary, many felt that their empathy had increased, especially the cognitive part of empathy, without loss of affective empathy. Many of them described a professionalisation process resulting in an ability to meet patients with preserved empathy but without being overwhelmed by emotions. They identified several factors that promoted the development of empathy: a multiplicity of patients, positive role models, and educational activities focusing on reflection and self-awareness. They also identified inhibitors of empathy: lack of professional competence and a stressful and empathy-hostile medical culture.
conclusionsOur analysis of these retrospective reflections by students suggests that empathy can be preserved during medical education, despite the presence of important inhibitors of empathy. This finding might be due to the presence of more potent promoters and/or to the fact that educational activities might result in a decreased susceptibility to empathy-decreasing circumstances.
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