title: How well do medical students express empathy?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Empathy is an important trait of a physician and a key element in the physician-patient relationship. This study evaluated the ability to express empathy in medical students.
  
  
  METHODS
  Medical student empathy was measured by the modified Pencil-and-Paper Empathy Rating Test of Winefield and Chur-Hansen. The subjects comprised 110 medical students. The data were analyzed by descriptive analysis and t-test using SPSS version 21.0 (IBM Corp.).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Empathy rating test scores were low-level in medical students (mean, 12.59). There were no differences in the level of ability to express empathy between genders (t=-1.714, p=0.089).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that practical training in expressing empathy should be included in medical education and that an empathy training program must be focused on changes in behavior.
authors: Faculty Development & Mentoring Center, Konyang University College of Medicine, Daejeon, Korea.
authors: Yera
authors: Y
authors: Hur
authors: Department of Medical Education, The Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors: A Ra
authors: AR
authors: Cho
authors: Department of Medical Education, The Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors: Sun
authors: S
authors: Kim
keywords: Communication; Empathy; Medical education; Medical students; Physician-patient relations