Empathy in high-tech and high-touch medicine.
cross_sectional · Level IV
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 24589130.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1016/j.pec.2014.01.013.
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Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Surgeons and psychiatrists have been described as two contrary groups, the one healing by hands and the other by words. Empathy is needed in every physician-patient relationship. We tested whether (1) surgeons and psychiatrists show different levels of cognitive and emotional empathy; (2) measurements of cognitive and emotional empathy correlate with physician-specific empathy; and (3) gender, experience, and career choices are influencing factors. METHODS: 56 surgeons and 50 psychiatrists participated. We measured empathy with the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE), cognitive empathy with the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test Revised (RME-R6), and emotional empathy with the Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale (BEES). RESULTS: Male psychiatrists scored significantly higher than that of male surgeons (118.0±9.86 vs. 107.5±13.84; p=0.0006) in the JSPE. Analytically trained psychiatrists scored significantly higher in the JSPE than that of behaviorally trained psychiatrists (p=0.024, F test, adjusted for gender). Both the RME and the BEES correlated positively with the JSPE. CONCLUSION: Higher scores for empathy were found in male psychiatrists than in male surgeons. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Further research is needed to learn about the effects of general medical training on empathy.