Iranian Journal of Medical Education

Introduction: Empathy is the art of understanding people's feelings such that the tone or behavior does not imply sympathy. Considering the importance of empathy in the process of caring patients, this study was designed to assess empathy with patients among medical residents in different specialties in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences for possible future intervention planning.

Methods: This descriptive-correlational research was performed in Isfahan City in 2013. All residents were selected through census method (286 people). Participants filled out the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy and demographic information questionnaires. The empathy scale is a 20-item self-report five point Likert scale. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis test.

Results: Ultimately, 274 questionnaires were analyzed. The mean score of empathy in the total sample was 76.62±8.82 (total=100). Mann-Whitney test did not show a significant correlation between empathy score and gender (p=0.19). Psychiatry residents had the highest (82.8±64.96) and orthopedics residents received the lowest (72.5±61.72) mean score. There was a significant difference between empathy scores among residents in different specialties (P=0.015).

Conclusion: Regarding the significant correlation of residents’ empathy score and field of study, it could be concluded that empathy is influenced by the clinical education environment and is a teachable subject for medical students.