title: How well do medical students rate and communicate clinical empathy?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This article presents findings from a prospective, longitudinal cohort educational study investigating empathy communication in clinical consultations. It reports on changes in students' self-report empathy during medical undergraduate training, investigates how well peers can assess student competence in motivational interviewing/brief interventions (MI/BI) skills and explores the relationship between students' self-report empathy and peer- or tutor-assessments of competence.
  
  
  METHODS
  72 medical students completed the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy at three time points: at the beginning of their fifth year medical training (Time 1), after a specific MI/BI training session during their fifth year medical training (Time 2) and 1 year later during a revision session in year 6. Competence in BI/MI consultation was assessed using the validated tool Behaviour Change Counselling Index.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A significant decline in medical students' empathy scores was observed from year 5 to year 6, consistent with international findings. Peer assessments and tutor ratings of competence in MI/BI skills performance were moderately correlated, but peer assessments were negatively correlated with medical students' self-rated empathy. Senior medical students who self-rated as more empathic received lower competence evaluations of MI/BI skills from their peers. Interventions to further investigate teaching and learning of empathy are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington South, New Zealand. beeteng.lim@otago.ac.nz
authors.forename: Bee Teng
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Moriarty
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Huthwaite
authors.forename: Lesley
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gray
authors.forename: Sue
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pullon
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gallagher
mesh_terms: D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D057566:Self Report; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D013997:Time Factors