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Empathy Among Orthopaedic Surgery Trainees

BACKGROUND: It has been postulated that the process of—and stresses associated with—medical training may cause a loss of empathy among trainees. Because empathy is considered an important value for clinicians and may even be associated with better patient outcomes, we assessed the empathy of orthopa...

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Autores principales: Sabharwal, Samir, Lin, Carol, Weistroffer, Joseph K., LaPorte, Dawn M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8428695/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34522833
http://dx.doi.org/10.2106/JBJS.OA.21.00041
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author Sabharwal, Samir
Lin, Carol
Weistroffer, Joseph K.
LaPorte, Dawn M.
author_facet Sabharwal, Samir
Lin, Carol
Weistroffer, Joseph K.
LaPorte, Dawn M.
author_sort Sabharwal, Samir
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: It has been postulated that the process of—and stresses associated with—medical training may cause a loss of empathy among trainees. Because empathy is considered an important value for clinicians and may even be associated with better patient outcomes, we assessed the empathy of orthopaedic surgery trainees and identified factors associated with empathy. METHODS: Between June and September 2020, an anonymous survey was distributed electronically to trainees in 23 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited orthopaedic surgery residency programs via the Collaborative Orthopaedic Educational Research Group. The survey comprised the validated Short-Form 8-Item Empathy Quotient (EQ-8) questionnaire—scored on a scale of 0, least empathetic, to 16, most empathetic—and single-item measure of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization derived from the Maslach Burnout Index—scored using a frequency scale. In total, 438 of 605 (72%) trainees completed the survey. The scores were compared via one-way analysis of variance, with Bonferroni correction and Tukey post-hoc testing, α = 0.05. RESULTS: The mean (±SD) EQ-8 score among respondents was 11.3 ± 3.3. Women scored significantly higher (mean, 12.2 ± 2.8) than men (mean, 11.2 ± 3.3) (p = 0.02). Mean scores were significantly higher for trainees planning on a career in academic medicine (12.0 ± 2.9) than those intending to pursue private practice (10.9 ± 3.3) or those with a military commitment (10.4 ± 3.4) (p = 0.01). An inverse relationship was found between EQ-8 scores and single-item Maslach Burnout Index measures in depersonalization and emotional exhaustion (both, p < 0.01). No significant differences were found in EQ-8 scores across postgraduate year, program location, primary training setting, intended fellowship, relationship status, or whether they reported having children. CONCLUSIONS: We found no association between postgraduate year and EQ-8 score. Women and those intending to pursue a career in academic medicine had significantly higher levels of empathy. A significant inverse relationship was found between burnout and empathy. Respondents with higher levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization had lower levels of empathy.
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spelling pubmed-84286952021-09-13 Empathy Among Orthopaedic Surgery Trainees Sabharwal, Samir Lin, Carol Weistroffer, Joseph K. LaPorte, Dawn M. JB JS Open Access AOA Critical Issues in Education BACKGROUND: It has been postulated that the process of—and stresses associated with—medical training may cause a loss of empathy among trainees. Because empathy is considered an important value for clinicians and may even be associated with better patient outcomes, we assessed the empathy of orthopaedic surgery trainees and identified factors associated with empathy. METHODS: Between June and September 2020, an anonymous survey was distributed electronically to trainees in 23 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited orthopaedic surgery residency programs via the Collaborative Orthopaedic Educational Research Group. The survey comprised the validated Short-Form 8-Item Empathy Quotient (EQ-8) questionnaire—scored on a scale of 0, least empathetic, to 16, most empathetic—and single-item measure of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization derived from the Maslach Burnout Index—scored using a frequency scale. In total, 438 of 605 (72%) trainees completed the survey. The scores were compared via one-way analysis of variance, with Bonferroni correction and Tukey post-hoc testing, α = 0.05. RESULTS: The mean (±SD) EQ-8 score among respondents was 11.3 ± 3.3. Women scored significantly higher (mean, 12.2 ± 2.8) than men (mean, 11.2 ± 3.3) (p = 0.02). Mean scores were significantly higher for trainees planning on a career in academic medicine (12.0 ± 2.9) than those intending to pursue private practice (10.9 ± 3.3) or those with a military commitment (10.4 ± 3.4) (p = 0.01). An inverse relationship was found between EQ-8 scores and single-item Maslach Burnout Index measures in depersonalization and emotional exhaustion (both, p < 0.01). No significant differences were found in EQ-8 scores across postgraduate year, program location, primary training setting, intended fellowship, relationship status, or whether they reported having children. CONCLUSIONS: We found no association between postgraduate year and EQ-8 score. Women and those intending to pursue a career in academic medicine had significantly higher levels of empathy. A significant inverse relationship was found between burnout and empathy. Respondents with higher levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization had lower levels of empathy. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc. 2021-09-09 /pmc/articles/PMC8428695/ /pubmed/34522833 http://dx.doi.org/10.2106/JBJS.OA.21.00041 Text en Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Incorporated. All rights reserved. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives License 4.0 (CCBY-NC-ND) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) , where it is permissible to download and share the work provided it is properly cited. The work cannot be changed in any way or used commercially without permission from the journal.
spellingShingle AOA Critical Issues in Education
Sabharwal, Samir
Lin, Carol
Weistroffer, Joseph K.
LaPorte, Dawn M.
Empathy Among Orthopaedic Surgery Trainees
title Empathy Among Orthopaedic Surgery Trainees
title_full Empathy Among Orthopaedic Surgery Trainees
title_fullStr Empathy Among Orthopaedic Surgery Trainees
title_full_unstemmed Empathy Among Orthopaedic Surgery Trainees
title_short Empathy Among Orthopaedic Surgery Trainees
title_sort empathy among orthopaedic surgery trainees
topic AOA Critical Issues in Education
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8428695/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34522833
http://dx.doi.org/10.2106/JBJS.OA.21.00041
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