SynthesisJournal of general internal medicine2022
Predictors of Physician Compassion, Empathy, and Related Constructs: a Systematic Review.
Synthesis in Journal of general internal medicine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 57 citations in OpenAlex.
- What is the State of Organisational Compassion-Based Interventions Targeting to Improve Health Professionals' Well-Being? Results of a Systematic Review.Journal of advanced nursing · 2025Pooled it
- Trial
- Is compassion fatigue a self-fulfilling prophecy in health care? A preregistered experimental study of manipulated expectations in doctors and medical trainees.British journal of health psychology · 2025Trial
- Mechanisms of change in compassion-based programs for medical students.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Educational and Professional Development Interventions to Strengthen Empathy, Compassion, and Relational Care Among Healthcare Professionals: A Systematic Review.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2026Review
- How Do Doctors Sustain Compassion in Healthcare? A Structural Analysis of Compassion-Maintaining Strategies.Journal of general internal medicine · 2026Article
- Challenges to Compassion for Patients Considered 'Difficult' to Care for: A Qualitative Content Analysis.Journal of advanced nursing · 2026Article
- Dentists' perceptions of practicing patient-centred care: a qualitative exploration guided by the theoretical domains framework.BMC oral health · 2026Article
- Evaluation of Chat Generative Pretrained Transformer's Performance in Cosmetic Injection Consultation by Authoritative Plastic Surgeons.Plastic and reconstructive surgery. Global open · 2026Article
- Who becomes a dermatologist? A repeated cross-sectional study on diversity in the Dutch dermatology workforce.PloS one · 2026Article
- It's More than Warm Communication: A Pre-Registered Analysis of Patient's Compassion Priorities.Journal of patient experience · 2026Article
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- Mediating effects of emotional labor on the relationship between perceived culture discrepancies and stress levels in pediatric nurses.BMC nursing · 2025Article
- Physician Empathy as Perceived by Parents of Children with Psychiatric Disorders: A Quantitative Analysis of Pediatric Consultations.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Identifying physicians' views on compassionate care in daily clinical practice: a multicentre Q-methodology study in Belgium.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Understanding the Impact of Personal Resources on Emotional Exhaustion Among Emergency Healthcare Workers: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway-Beliefs About Compassion Predict Care and Motivation to Help Among Healthcare Professionals.Journal of clinical nursing · 2025Observational
- Having a More Compassionate Doctor Does Not Mean Patients Will Feel More Cared for: An Empirical Study.Journal of general internal medicine · 2025Article
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Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCompassion in healthcare provides measurable benefits to patients, physicians, and healthcare systems. However, data regarding the factors that predict care (and a lack of care) are scattered. This study systematically reviews biomedical literature within the Transactional Model of Physician Compassion and synthesizes evidence regarding the predictors of physician empathy, compassion, and related constructs (ECRC).
methodsA systematic literature search was conducted in CENTRAL, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, EMBASE, CINAHL, AMED, OvidJournals, ProQuest, Web of Science, and Scopus using search terms relating to ECRC and its predictors. Eligible studies included physicians as participants. Methodological quality was assessed based on the Cochrane Handbook, using ROBINS-I risk of bias tool for quantitative and CASP for qualitative studies. Confidence in findings was evaluated according to GRADE-CERQual approach.
resultsOne hundred fifty-two included studies (74,866 physicians) highlighted the diversity of influences on compassion in healthcare (54 unique predictors). Physician-related predictors (88%) were gender, experience, values, emotions and coping strategies, quality of life, and burnout. Environmental predictors (38%) were organizational structure, resources, culture, and clinical environment and processes. Patient-related predictors (24%) were communication ease, and physicians' perceptions of patients' motives; compassion was also less forthcoming with lower SES and minority patients. Evidence related to clinical predictors (15%) was scarce; high acuity presentations predicted greater ECRC. DISCUSSION: The growth of evidence in the recent years reflects ECRC's ongoing importance. However, evidence remains scattered, concentrates on physicians' factors that may not be amenable to interventions, lacks designs permitting causal commentary, and is limited by self-reported outcomes. Inconsistent findings in the direction of the predictors' effects indicate the need to study the relationships among predictors to better understand the mechanisms of ECRCs. The current review can guide future research and interventions.
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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.