Objective To evaluate the effect of physician training in empathic skills on patients' satisfaction just after their first consultation in a private fertility clinic setting. Design Prospective ...study. Setting Private fertility clinic. Patient(s) Thirteen physicians were evaluated by 2,146 patients. Intervention(s) The empathic training of physicians was centered on emotional intelligence, communication elements, social styles and empathy, and practical workshops. After their first consultation with the physician, patients answered a self-rating questionnaire comprising five scales: information provided, dynamic of the visit, time dedicated, patient-physician interaction, and expertise. Main Outcome Measure(s) Patients' satisfaction scores after the empathic training of physicians. Result(s) For all five scales, the empathic training resulted in a significant change of the global scoring distribution with a shift toward higher scores. The intervention also resulted in a lower likelihood of low scoring (in the lower quartile) for all the items. Conclusion(s) Training in empathic skills of physicians resulted in higher patient satisfaction levels on the perceived information quality, communication skills, and time dedicated at first consultation for fertility treatment.
The Association of American Medical Colleges recognizes that empathy is an important part of providing excellent patient care and lists empathy as a Core Entrustable Professional Attribute for ...physicians. This study is a review of the literature focusing on studies with an educational intervention to promote empathy and at least one year follow-up data. After reviewing the 4910 abstracts retrieved from PubMed, PsycInfo, Cochrane, Web of Science, CINAHL, and Embase; the coauthors selected 61 articles for full-text review and completed a medical education research study quality instrument (MERSQI) to ensure all selected studies scored at least 7 or above. Five studies from the US and seven international studies met our inclusion criteria and formed the basis for the study. Few longitudinal studies with a post-intervention follow-up exist to confirm or disprove the effectiveness and durability of empathy training. Of the published studies that do conduct long-term follow-up, study design and measures used to test empathy are inconsistent. Despite the high degree of heterogeneity, the overwhelming majority demonstrated declining empathy over time. Little evidence was identified to support the ability to augment the empathy of physician trainees in sustained fashion. A model is presented which explains the observed changes. Alternative solutions are proposed, including the selection of more prosocial candidates.
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