ASSESSMENT OF EMPATHY SCORES AMONG MEDICAL STUDENTS OF A PRIVATE MEDICAL COLLEGE, LAHORE, PAKISTAN

Abstract

Background: The most vital component of healthy physician-patient relationships is empathy, which is strongly linked to better patient outcomes. The objective of this study was to determine the empathy score among medical students across the academic years and to find out the association of empathy scores with gender, year of study and specialty chosen by the students.

Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among the medical students after having approval from institutional review board on a validated self-reported Jefferson scale of empathy –student version (JSE-S) from August 23 to January 24. Data was collected from the students who were present on the day of data collection by convenience sampling technique. Data was analyzed by SPSS 25 version.

Results: Out of 619 students 594 filled the questionnaire. The mean empathy score was 88.1±10.31. There was no statistically significant relationship of gender with mean score of empathy p Value (0.08) but there was statistical difference of the empathy score with academic years(p=0.002). There is statistically significant association of gender with perspective (p=0.00) and compassion (p=0.024) subscales of JSE-S version. However, there is significant statistical difference of perspective, compassion and walking in patient shoes subscales in relation to academic years (p-value=0.001, 0.001 and 0.026 respectively).

Conclusion: The empathy score was low in this study. The empathy score was high in first year and fourth year. No relationship was demonstrated depending on the career preference. Year of medical training and preclinical/ clinical categories has strong and significant relationship with empathy levels.