Determinants of physician empathy during medical education: hypothetical conclusions from an exploratory qualitative survey of practicing physicians

BMC Medical Education

Christian Scheffer⁵  Eckhart G Hahn²  Hadass Goldblatt³  Melanie Neumann¹  Florian Ahrweiler⁴ 

[1] Faculty of Health, Witten/Herdecke University, Alfred-Herrhausen-Straße 50, 58448 Witten, Germany;Gesellschaft für Berufliche Fortbildung, Forschung und Entwicklung an der Medizinischen Klinik 1, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Ulmenweg 18, 91054 Erlangen, Germany;Department of Nursing, Faculty of Social Welfare & Health Sciences, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, 3498838 Haifa, Israel;Medizinische Klinik, Augusta-Kranken-Anstalt, Bergstraße 26, 44791 Bochum, Germany;Center for Educational Research, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health, Witten/Herdecke University, Alfred-Herrhausen-Straße 50, 58448 Witten, Germany

关键词: Inhibiting factors;    Promoting factors;    Health communication;    Physician-patient relationship;    Physician;    Medical education;    Empathy;   

Others  :  866686
DOI  :  10.1186/1472-6920-14-122

 received in 2012-12-20, accepted in 2014-06-10,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

Empathy is an outcome-relevant physician characteristic and thus a crucial component of high-quality communication in health care. However, the factors that promote and inhibit the development of empathy during medical education have not been extensively researched. Also, currently there is no explicit research on the perspective of practicing physicians on the subject. Therefore the aim of our study was to explore physicians’ views of the positive and negative influences on the development of empathy during their medical education, as well as in their everyday work as physicians.

Method

We administered a written Qualitative Short Survey to 63 physicians in seven specialties. They were able to respond anonymously. Our open-ended question was: “What educational content in the course of your studies and/or your specialist training had a positive or negative effect on your empathy?” We analyzed the data using thematic content analysis following Mayring’s approach.

Results

Forty-two physicians took part in our survey. All together, they mentioned 68 specific factors (37 positive, 29 negative, 2 neutral) from which six themes emerged: 1. In general, medical education does not promote the development of empathy. 2. Recognizing the psycho-social dimensions of care fosters empathy. 3. Interactions with patients in medical practice promote empathy. 4. Physicians’ active self-development through reflective practice helps the development of empathy. 5. Interactions with colleagues can both promote and inhibit empathy through their role modeling of empathic and non-empathic behavior. 6. Stress, time pressure, and adverse working conditions are detrimental to empathy development.

Conclusions

Our results provide an overview of what might influence the development of clinical empathy, as well as hypothetical conclusions about how to promote it. Reflective practice seems to be lacking in current medical curricula and could be incorporated. Raising physicians’ awareness of the psycho-social dimension of disease, and of the impact of peer influence and role modeling, seems promising in this regard, too. Stress and well-being seem to be closely related to physician empathy, and their modulation must take into account individual, social, and organizational factors. Further research should investigate whether or how these hypothetical conclusions can deepen our understanding of the determinants of physician empathy in order to help its promotion.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Ahrweiler et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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