Tavakol Sina, Dennick Reg, Tavakol Mohsen
Undergraduate Neuroscience Student, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Nottingham, UK.
Educ Prim Care. 2011 Sep;22(5):297-303. doi: 10.1080/14739879.2011.11494022.
The importance of empathetic communication in the context of patient care has been suggested as a crucial element in the delivery of high-quality medical care. Although some countries have measured empathy among medical students, little is known formally about the state of affairs regarding empathy in the UK with regard to gender, medical years and speciality. This paper presents the results from a cross-sectional study that explored the relationship between undergraduate medical students' empathy scores relevant to gender, medical school year and future career ambitions. The Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy, a self-administered questionnaire, was used for collecting data. It was decided to incorporate the scale into a web application that was only accessible through a confidential hyperlink. A total of 853 (68.2%) medical students completed the survey. Female students (n=470) scored significantly (t((819))=-6.63; 95% CI=-0.30, -0.16) higher than male students (n=351). No significant differences were observed between empathy mean scores and medical school year. Students choosing people-oriented specialities had significantly higher mean scores in comparison to students preferring technology oriented specialities. Three hypotheses were tested in this study. The hypothesis that female students would score higher than male students was supported by the results. The findings did not support the hypothesis that empathy scores decline during the medical school years. Finally, the findings did support the hypothesis that those preferring peopleoriented specialities would score higher on the empathy scale than students choosing technology oriented specialities. Some recommendations are made and the limitations of study are discussed.
在患者护理背景下，共情沟通的重要性已被视为提供高质量医疗服务的关键要素。尽管一些国家已对医学生的共情能力进行了测量，但在英国，关于性别、医学学习年限和专业方面的共情状况，我们所知甚少。本文介绍了一项横断面研究的结果，该研究探讨了本科医学生的共情得分与性别、医学学年和未来职业抱负之间的关系。使用了一种自我管理的问卷——杰斐逊医生共情量表来收集数据。决定将该量表纳入一个只能通过保密超链接访问的网络应用程序中。共有853名（68.2%）医学生完成了调查。女生（n = 470）的得分显著高于男生（n = 351）（t((819)) = -6.63；95%置信区间 = -0.30，-0.16）。在共情平均得分与医学学年之间未观察到显著差异。与倾向于技术导向专业的学生相比，选择以人为本专业的学生平均得分显著更高。本研究检验了三个假设。结果支持了女生得分高于男生这一假设。研究结果不支持医学生涯中共情得分会下降这一假设。最后，研究结果确实支持了倾向于以人为本专业的学生在共情量表上的得分会高于选择技术导向专业的学生这一假设。文中提出了一些建议并讨论了研究的局限性。
