ArticleBMC medical education2025
The current state of defensive medicine and its association with empathy: a cross-sectional study among graduate students in Guangxi, China.
Article in BMC medical education, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundDefensive medicine arises partly from strained physician-patient relationships and concerns related to medico-legal issues. While most existing research has focused on practicing physicians, relatively little is known about defensive medicine among master's students. This group is at a critical transitional stage from student to physician, making it essential to understand their behaviors and attitudes. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the prevalence of defensive medical practices among clinical master's students and to explore their association with empathy, with the ultimate goal of informing medical education and training for future physicians.
methodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted among first- to third- year master's students enrolled between July 2022 and July 2024. Data were collected through an online questionnaire administered via a web-based platform. The survey gathered demographic information and included the self-developed Defensive Medical Practice Scale (DMS) and the Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE). Descriptive statistics, t-tests, and ANOVA were employed to assess group differences. Associations between variables and factors related to defensive medical practices were examined using Spearman correlation, stepwise linear regression, and random forest models.
resultsA total of 295 valid responses were analyzed, including 95 males (32.2%) and 200 females (67.8%). The mean score on the DMS was 34.19 (SD = 4.21), while the mean score on the JSE was 106.09 (SD = 13.96). The most frequently reported defensive behavior was obtaining additional informed consent (M = 4.79, SD = 0.56). Defensive medical practices were negatively correlated with empathy (r = - 0.209, p < 0.001). Regression analyses showed that lower empathy, prior adverse medical experiences (e.g., severe complications, patient death, or disputes), and certain specialties were significant predictors of defensive medical practices (p < 0.05).
conclusionsThis study demonstrates that empathy is a key determinant of defensive medical practices among master's students. The findings underscore the importance of systematically embedding empathy cultivation within medical curricula. Enhancing empathy education has the potential to mitigate defensive medical behaviors, strengthen physician-patient relationships, and improve both the humanistic orientation and the overall quality of healthcare delivery.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.