Twenty-first-Century Skills: Teaching Empathy to Health Professions Students

A key component of therapeutic relationships is the ability of medical professionals to empathize with patients, as research indicates a link between a healthcare worker’s ability to empathize with patients and improved patient outcomes. Empathy - the ability to perceive the meaning and feelings of another and to communicate those feelings to others - may be an innate concept, but it is shaped through behaviours and experiences. It is imperative, then, that post-secondary students entering the medical field be taught to develop empathy in order to facilitate positive patient outcomes. Embedding empathy-based education in the curriculum of medical, nursing, and allied health programs early in the course of study can help students understand the patient’s perspective and facilitate positive therapeutic relationships early in students' professional careers. The shift from traditional teaching and learning styles to online learning has created deficiencies such as gaps in communication, empathy, and the development of emotional intelligence. To address these gaps, new and innovative ways to teach empathy, such as simulation, can be employed.