Data base aug 2025.

BackgroundEmpathy is a fundamental tool in clinical practice, but despite its importance and benefits, it is often underrepresented in medical curricula. This study explored the evolution of medical students’ empathy longitudinally across six years of undergraduate training following the introduction of a curriculum with 4-hour workshops during each of the six clinical rotations from Years 4 to 6, complemented by self-reflections after each rotation.MethodsStudents of the 2016 class (graduated 2022) completed the Jefferson Scale of Empathy-Students (JSE-S) and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) at the beginning of Year 1 (T0) of studies, beginning Year 3 (T1), end Year 3 (T2) and end Year 6 (T3). The NEO Five-Factor Personality Inventory was completed at T0. Empathy scores across timepoints were analyzed using repeated measured analyses of variance (ANOVA).Results36.1% and 32.5% of 169 eligible students completed the JSE-S and IRI scores respectively at all four timepoints. The JSE-S total mean score increased significantly across the six years of medical course (p ConclusionMedical students who experienced a new professionalism program increased their empathy as measured by the JSE-S and IRI instruments across the six years of curriculum.