Background
It is suggested that empathy declines during workplace-based clinical training. Students on GP rotations are exposed to multiple aligned clinical and teaching activities that encourage a patient-centred approach to clinical practice. Essential ingredients to this include empathy and the ability to cope with patients’ situations, which may be confronting and very different to the students’ life experiences. We evaluated changes in empathy and coping skills of final year medical students before and after their General Practice placements
Methods
Final year Medical Students (n=93) completed validated surveys measuring coping style (Brief COPE), and empathy (Interpersonal Reactivity Index) before and after their 7 week general practice rotations. Coping Styles were analysed separately (Active, Cognitive, and Dysfunctional Coping). Students on emergency medicine rotations were used as control groups.
Results
Analysis to date revealed students with higher active functional coping skills showed no decline in empathy (F<1). However concerns remain relating to those with lower active functional coping skills, who showed statistically significant declines in empathy (P=.017).
Conclusions
Despite empathy typically declining throughout clinical placements, our results suggest that active functional coping mechanisms may help to prevent this. However students with lower active functional coping skills continue to show declining empathy This has implications for curriculum development and future directions for teaching empathy and coping.