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Medical student reporting of factors affecting pre-clerkship changes in empathy: a qualitative study

OBJECTIVE: To isolate factors that medical students identify as possibly affecting empathy in pre-clerkship years of medical school. METHODS: 12 students in their second year of medical school at Queen’s University were randomly selected and asked to participate in semi-structured interviews conduct...

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Autores principales: Sheikh, Hasan, Carpenter, Jennifer, Wee, Joy
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: University of Saskatchewan 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4563652/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26451198
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author Sheikh, Hasan
Carpenter, Jennifer
Wee, Joy
author_facet Sheikh, Hasan
Carpenter, Jennifer
Wee, Joy
author_sort Sheikh, Hasan
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVE: To isolate factors that medical students identify as possibly affecting empathy in pre-clerkship years of medical school. METHODS: 12 students in their second year of medical school at Queen’s University were randomly selected and asked to participate in semi-structured interviews conducted from an ethnographic perspective. RESULTS: Students reported both negative and positive changes in empathy. Negative changes included desensitization and focusing on the disease process, decreased ability to see things from patients’ perspectives, and routine responses in emotional situations. These changes occur due to time constraints, objective lessons in empathy, and a changing identity. Positive changes included an increased awareness of the impact of illness, and increased ability to read feelings. These changes result from increased exposure to patients, discussions surrounding the psychosocial impact of illness, and positive role models. CONCLUSION: Students should be made aware of the limitations of objective lessons in empathy, and non-evaluated, implicit lessons should be emphasized when possible. Students should be encouraged to maintain relationships outside of medicine. Aspects of medical school that currently promote empathy should be reinforced, including exposure to patients, opportunities to work closely with positive role models, and practical discussions surrounding the psychosocial impact of illness.
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spelling pubmed-45636522015-10-08 Medical student reporting of factors affecting pre-clerkship changes in empathy: a qualitative study Sheikh, Hasan Carpenter, Jennifer Wee, Joy Can Med Educ J Major Contribution/Research Article OBJECTIVE: To isolate factors that medical students identify as possibly affecting empathy in pre-clerkship years of medical school. METHODS: 12 students in their second year of medical school at Queen’s University were randomly selected and asked to participate in semi-structured interviews conducted from an ethnographic perspective. RESULTS: Students reported both negative and positive changes in empathy. Negative changes included desensitization and focusing on the disease process, decreased ability to see things from patients’ perspectives, and routine responses in emotional situations. These changes occur due to time constraints, objective lessons in empathy, and a changing identity. Positive changes included an increased awareness of the impact of illness, and increased ability to read feelings. These changes result from increased exposure to patients, discussions surrounding the psychosocial impact of illness, and positive role models. CONCLUSION: Students should be made aware of the limitations of objective lessons in empathy, and non-evaluated, implicit lessons should be emphasized when possible. Students should be encouraged to maintain relationships outside of medicine. Aspects of medical school that currently promote empathy should be reinforced, including exposure to patients, opportunities to work closely with positive role models, and practical discussions surrounding the psychosocial impact of illness. University of Saskatchewan 2013-03-31 /pmc/articles/PMC4563652/ /pubmed/26451198 Text en © 2013 Sheikh, Carpenter, Wee; licensee Synergies Partners This is an Open Journal Systems article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Major Contribution/Research Article
Sheikh, Hasan
Carpenter, Jennifer
Wee, Joy
Medical student reporting of factors affecting pre-clerkship changes in empathy: a qualitative study
title Medical student reporting of factors affecting pre-clerkship changes in empathy: a qualitative study
title_full Medical student reporting of factors affecting pre-clerkship changes in empathy: a qualitative study
title_fullStr Medical student reporting of factors affecting pre-clerkship changes in empathy: a qualitative study
title_full_unstemmed Medical student reporting of factors affecting pre-clerkship changes in empathy: a qualitative study
title_short Medical student reporting of factors affecting pre-clerkship changes in empathy: a qualitative study
title_sort medical student reporting of factors affecting pre-clerkship changes in empathy: a qualitative study
topic Major Contribution/Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4563652/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26451198
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