Do Students Lose Empathy for Patients during Medical School?

[fascinoma]

This article seems to think so:

http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/03/24/prsb0324.htm

Thoughts?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Roto]

I see you are a medical student, do you find yourself laughing in the faces of patients and yelling out "cry me a river!" Just kidding

I can definitely see a reason for viewing patients more objectively with less emotion. The bottom line is you have a job to do and you don't/cannot let emotions interfer with your judgement. I recall reading or hearing something to the affect of a physician was hesitant to continue a certain treatment or procedure because he felt bad for the patient and what they were going through. The patient ended up dying because nothing was being done.

I am applying to medical school in June (D.0. all the way!) so I cannot comment on the change of my empathy yet. It is ironic I found this post and read this article because I am in the agonizing process of writing my personal statement and my focus has been on my caring/compassionate demeanor and how I want to change the "image" doctors have regarding bedside manner.

Interesting read!

 

[Sarikate]

I'm only a first year, so my thoughts on this are probably not very scintillating, but I'm also a patient who has experienced a lot on the receiving end of the health care, and I think that's a fairly unique perspective. I would say being a patient, more than anything, has absolutely, unequivocally boosted my empathy for the sick. Definitely more so than being a med student. However, I don't find that I'm "losing" that as I am being educated (again, though, it's only the first year).

I think it's so important to try to really see where your patients are coming from, and it's one of those things that's nearly impossible to do unless you've been in their shoes. I've had wild flights of fancy trying to come up with ways to educate med students about what it's like to be sick - really sick - but so far nothing solid has materialized.

 

[VALSALVA]

Yes. I and many of my classmates have lost all or most of our empathy. I'm sure some haven't, but I couldn't tell you why that is. Once in a while, I meet a patient that stirs those old warm tingly feelings in me, but that's rare. It takes an very thankful appreciative person and no doubt, on my part, that they are sincere.

 

[Jamers]

This article seems to think so:

http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/03/24/prsb0324.htm

Thoughts?

I actually hate about 90% of medical students but I don't think I have lost empathy for patients. Having to deal with people calling you stupid every day and taking ****, literally, as a CNA has made me pretty much immune to losing empathy; I say this now of course but could easily see things changing.

 

[EastWestN2grt]

http://www.challiance.org/news/press_releases_07/070328_clerkship.shtml

This is the way that Harvard is attempting to address this issue of decreasing empathy in med students -Cambridge Integrative Clerkship. ATSU SOMA year 2 is modeled like this clerkship, and so we'll see how this upcoming year goes. According to the people from Harvard running this program(they came and presented to us in AZ) empathy/px care, and NBME board scores generally improved. The consensus among current Harvard students in the program was it was more demanding than traditional rotations because of the difficulty of finding a median emotional commitment to their patients. It was easy to get more emotionally involved with patients. So it will be interesting to see what happens, and how it pans out.

 

[Jamers]

http://www.challiance.org/news/press_releases_07/070328_clerkship.shtml

This is the way that Harvard is attempting to address this issue of decreasing empathy in med students -Cambridge Integrative Clerkship. ATSU SOMA year 2 is modeled like this clerkship, and so we'll see how this upcoming year goes. According to the people from Harvard running this program(they came and presented to us in AZ) empathy/px care, and NBME board scores generally improved. The consensus among current Harvard students in the program was it was more demanding than traditional rotations because of the difficulty of finding a median emotional commitment to their patients. It was easy to get more emotionally involved with patients. So it will be interesting to see what happens, and how it pans out.

We have a program like that at DMU; Chronic Care.

 

[psychbender]

I don't think I've lost much empathy in medical school because I'm fairly certain I didn't have much to begin with.

 

[Amy B]

I had an instructor in my MSI year tell me that she has watched NUMEROUS med students "go over to the dark side as they got closer to graduation." I asked her what she meant and she said it was the way they came into med school verses the way they left med school in terms of personality. I guess this is what she was meaning...

 

[Old_Mil]

Perhaps it's time to take a look at the role that patients themsevles play in the "loss of empathy" that occurs. I suspect it's a fairly large one.

 

[VALSALVA]

Perhaps it's time to take a look at the role that patients themsevles play in the "loss of empathy" that occurs. I suspect it's a fairly large one.

Can I get a witness!!!

[YOUTUBE]http://youtube.com/watch?v=_3hHnhRqpbY[/YOUTUBE]

 

[GoBuckeyes913]

I will say that a fairly large amount of people I know, including myself, have lost empathy and sympathy for patients. I've been a patient many times, in and out of the hospital. Before I really knew what doctors did during their day, I wondered "Damn, I'm in my hospital bed all day. I see the nurse like every 15 minutes for "x" amount of hours, but the doc comes in, like, never and when he/she does they spend like 2 minutes with me and jet". I usually didn't take it personally, but it really didn't satisfy me either.

Now that I've got a year of rotations under my belt I see things a lot differently. The docs didn't bounce in and out of my room because they could care less.... they had 35 patients to round on which restricted visiting time. It didn't mean they didn't empathize or sympathize with me, but it can look that way when your pressed for time and have to finish your list at hospital A only to go to Hospital B, then the office, etc. I can see how some patients can view this as lack of empathy, when in reality its just lack of time.

On the other hand, back to my first sentence.... I've lost empathy and sympathy for some patients, but for the most part regarding what service/specialty. For example, I probably felt the most empathetic/sympathetic on Peds... either for how sick the kids were or the parents they had (sometimes both). It gets hard to have those same feelings toward a patient that consistently has to have I&Ds done because they can't keep a drug needle out of their arm, or the patient with back pain coming to the ED who is "allergic" to everything except Dilaudid, then requests a specific dose (drug-seeker). If you can, than you must be mother theresa reincarnated.. but for the rest of us we're not and I think it's human nature to feel a little detached sometimes.