VCOM Louisiana Research Day Program Book 2024

Education, Simulation and Best Practices

63 INVESTIGATING THE CHANGE IN EMPATHY THROUGHOUT TRADITIONAL OSTEOPATHIC MEDICAL EDUCATION

Rebecca Peters, MS; Maham Khan, MSA; Emma Barham, BS; John Webb, PhD; VCOM-Louisiana

Background: Amongst the many important characteristics for health-care providers, the ability to empathize and to engage in empathetic communication is high on the list. Despite its importance, some studies have shown a significant decline in measures of empathy as students complete their medical education throughout many parts of the world. Systematic review of the current literature has shown that many studies have detected a correlation between educational years and empathy scores, and that empathy resilience may be correlated with gender, specialty preference, and geographic location, with osteopathic medical students showing a lesser magnitude of decline overall. One systematic review conducted by Neumann et al. in 2011 showed that 10 of 11 reviewed studies identified a decrease in measured empathy scores between the beginning of year three, and the students’ first patient encounter during their clinical rotations. The exposure to clinical vignettes as a study tool in preparation for medical licensing examinations has not been investigated as it pertains to empathy changes, though the time period of greatest empathy decline relates closely to the time period within which students are using these vignettes for examination preparation. Hypothesis: Medical students experience a significant decrease in empathy measurement scores throughout their pre-clinical medical education, especially as they begin to utilize boards-style practice questions to supplement their medical education. Aim I: To investigate whether or not there exists a significant decrease in empathy measurement scores during the students’ first two years of preclinical

medical education, and, if so, whether or not these changes can be stratified into particular demographic categories noted below. Aim II: To investigate whether or not our results on empathy decline in osteopathic medical students demonstrate similar trends from research on empathy decline in allopathic medical students. Aim III: To explore whether or not there is a relationship between measured empathy score and exposure to clinical vignettes via boards-style questions during pre-clinical training. Aim IV: To study whether or not empathy measurement scores have predictive value in humanistic clinical performance as subjectively quantified by the university’s standardized patient examination program. This facet of the investigation serves to verify the importance of empathy as it relates to performance in a clinical setting. Methods: A thorough literature review on the topic of empathy development and decline throughout medical education was conducted. The current study utilizes volunteer participants recruited from the first and second year classes at the VCOM. (This investigation is ongoing) Students received an optional survey containing an empathy measurement tool, the empathy quotient (EQ), as well as a set of questions for stratification by demographic data (students’ age, sex, average reported family income prior to attending medical school, time spent in a medical care setting as a patient, time spent in a medical care setting not

as a patient, specialty preference, and geographical location prior to attending medical school). Statistical analyses will involve a unidirectional independent t-test to determine if there is a significant mean difference between the first and second-year samples in terms of empathy measurement score, with further post-hoc testing stratifying by the aforementioned demographic variables to see if any particular differences in average empathy measurement exist. ANTICIPATED Results: This investigation is ongoing; the study is currently in progress and the results are not complete. We anticipate data collection and analyses to be competed prior to the poster submission date of February 8th. We anticipate the decline in empathy measurement scores to mirror that of previous investigations, showing a decline between the first two-years. We anticipate to see a correlation with EQ score compared with number of boards-style clinical vignettes used. Conclusions: This investigation is ongoing, therefore we cannot draw conclusions about the results at this time; however, conducting this study will provide additional insight contributing to previous knowledge pertaining to changes in empathy in osteopathic medical students during their medical education, and will provide baseline data for further investigation and potential intervention. If our hypothesis is supported, interventions that could be studied for empathy improvement include targeted empathy-building workshops following medical licensing examinations, prior to students’ first clinical encounters during their final two years.

87 2024 Via Research Recognition Day