Patient interviews improve empathy levels of preclinical medical students

Abstract

© 2019 Siriraj Medical Journal. Objective: In order to cultivate and maintain empathy during medical school, an experiential learning program, "A Patient as a Human Being", was designed to promote empathy in second-year medical students through interviews with patients focusing on their suffering and the difficulties arising from their illnesses and hospital stays. Methods: The second-year medical students were divided into groups of three and four. Each group was assigned a patient to interview under close supervision. The selected patients were informed beforehand about the interview and voluntarily agreed to participate. The Thai version of the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy-Student Version (JSPE-SV) was used to assess the students' empathy levels. Results: The baseline JSPE-SV score (n = 310) was 114.10±10.20. After the interview, the scores significantly increased (1.19 [0.21-2.18], P = 0.009). Students in the lower-half group of baseline scores showed a higher improvement (2.64 [1.14-4.15], P < 0.001) than those in the upper-half group. The difference coefficient by multivariate analysis of the improved JSPE-SV scores between the two groups was 3.03 [1.08-4.98] (p = 0.002), accompanied by a correlation between the pre-activity empathy score and the improved score ( p = - 0.21, P-value < 0.01). Conclusion: The patient interviews improved the empathy levels of the preclinical medical students, especially those with lower baseline empathy levels.