Student Union
Med Students Lose Empathy After Second Year, Study Finds
While medical school students gain key healing skills as their education progresses, one important quality seems to wane: empathy.
According to a study from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, “a statistically significant decline in empathy scores was observed when comparing students in the preclinical (first and second years) and clinical (third and fourth years) phases of medical school.”
Empathy is "a cognitive attribute that involves an ability to understand the patient's pain, suffering and perspective, combined with a capability to communicate this understanding and an intention to help," according to Mohammadreza Hojat, who created the Jefferson Scale of Empathy in 2001.
Hojat looked at more than 10,000 students enrolled in 41 of 48 campuses of Doctor of Osteopathy (DO) medical schools in the United States in 2017-2018.
DOs are fully licensed physicians who practice in all areas of medicine, according to the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM), and empathy is an important part of their program.
“Emphasizing a whole-person approach to treatment and care, DOs are trained to listen and partner with their patients to help them get healthy and stay well,” according to the American Osteopathic Association.
In the study, women score higher in empathy than male students, African American students score higher than white students, and Asian Americans score the lowest. But everyone shows a decline going into that third year.
"As students progress through medical school, you expect empathic engagement in patient care to improve. Apparently, that's not the case," Hojat said in a news release.
Studies about students pursuing a medical degree at one of the 154 programs nationwide reflect the same decline in empathy in later years of medical school.
Why does empathy decline among med students?
“More research is needed to examine changes in empathy in longitudinal study and explore reasons for changes to avert erosion of empathy in medical school,” the study concluded.
A 2017 study calling empathy a “socioemotional construct” disputes the decline, saying the quality needs to be measured in more various ways.
In the medical publication STAT, Dr. Lawrence G. Smith said the COVID-19 pandemic will result in doctors with greater degrees of empathy.
“As my students and others all across the country make their rounds, they will likely notice that while an infectious disease like COVID-19 afflicts people regardless of race or wealth or education, its impact varies widely based on socioeconomic status,” Smith wrote.
“Such a realization can and must change everything about the way medical students perceive their profession, as well as everything about the way future generations of physicians are trained,” he continued.
In an email to VOA, Hojat said empathy should be considered when assessing a student’s application to medical school.
“The assessment of empathy should be used as a criterion measure for the selection of medical school applicants for training caring physicians,” he said.
Hojat’s most recent study was published in June in the Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges.
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Police arrest 33 at George Washington University protest encampment
Police in Washington cleared a pro-Palestinian protest encampment at George Washington University early Wednesday, arresting 33 people, authorities said.
Arrests were made on charges of assault on a police officer and unlawful entry, the District of Columbia's Metropolitan Police Department said.
A congressional committee canceled a hearing on the university encampment Wednesday. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Washington Police Chief Pamela Smith had been scheduled to testify about the city’s handling of the protest before the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.
University parents and faculty members gathered Wednesday afternoon for a press conference to condemn the handling of the protests by police and school leaders.
“The university clearly does not value the students at all and has endangered the safety of our children by unleashing officers dressed in full riot gear to assault and spray our children in their eyes with pepper spray,” said Hala Amer, whose son participated in the campus protests.
Police said they dispersed demonstrators because "there has been a gradual escalation in the volatility of the protest."
American University professor Barbara Wien said she stayed in the encampment with GW students. She described the student protesters as democratic and peaceful.
Police started to shut down the tent encampment after dozens of protesters marched to GW President Ellen Granberg's on-campus home on Tuesday night. Police were called, but no arrests were made.
Speakers at the conference called for Granberg’s resignation because, they alleged, she refused to meet and negotiate with student protesters.
“You keep inciting violence and ignoring the students,” Amer said about Granberg in an interview with VOA after the conference. “It will just lead to more violence. You need to talk to your students.”
GW officials warned students that they could be suspended for engaging in protests at the school’s University Yard, an outdoor spot on the campus.
"While the university is committed to protecting students' rights to free expression, the encampment had evolved into an unlawful activity, with participants in direct violation of multiple university policies and city regulations," a GW statement said.
More than 2,600 people have been arrested at universities across the country in pro-Palestinian protests, according to The Associated Press.
Students are calling on their university administrations to divest investments from Israel or companies with ties to Israel. Demonstrators have gathered in at least 50 campuses since April 17, carrying signs that read "Free Palestine" and "Hands off Rafah."
Rafah is Gaza’s southernmost city, where most of the territory’s population has clustered. The area is also a corridor for bringing humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory.
Israel seized the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing on Tuesday, while shutting off the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing, drawing criticism from humanitarian groups. Israel said Wednesday that it had reopened Kerem Shalom.
The nationwide campus protests started in response to Israel's offensive in Gaza that began after Hamas launched a terror attack on Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 hostages.
More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's offensive, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Israel warned it could "deepen" its operation in Rafah if talks failed to secure the release of the hostages.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press.
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