Understanding the Barrier to Integrating Empathy Education into Pre-Medical Curriculum

Understanding the Barrier to Integrating Empathy Education into Pre-Medical Curriculum

Presenter(s)

Angela Galluzzo

Comments

Presentation: 2:20-2:40 p.m., Kennedy Union 312

Description

The overwhelming consensus in healthcare research over the past two decades supports that healthcare providers demonstrating empathy is an integral component of quality of care and health outcomes (Reiss). The benefits of empathy in patient-provider relationships range from stronger immune responses from patients to a lowered burden on the healthcare system to fewer malpractice lawsuits against providers (Reiss). Even with this research suggesting that providers should be empathetic in patient interactions, there are barriers to implementation. The barrier that my research will focus on is time–specifically how time constraints throughout professional schooling prevent a broad education that would teach providers how to best demonstrate empathy to patients. My work focuses on a literature review to understand why empathy should be studied as the marker for success in patient-provider relationships and how empathy competency is being taught and subsequently measured in clinical practice. I, then, investigate time as the inescapable barrier to empathy education. With this foundational knowledge, I propose a recommendation that focuses on integrating empathy education, focusing on empathy as an attainable, measurable skill, into the pre-medical curriculum at universities.

Publication Date

4-19-2023

Project Designation

Honors Thesis

Primary Advisor

Brian LaDuca

Primary Advisor's Department

Institute of Applied Creativity for Transformation (IACT)

Keywords

Stander Symposium, Additional Areas

Institutional Learning Goals

Scholarship

Understanding the Barrier to Integrating Empathy Education into Pre-Medical Curriculum

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