Evaluation of Empathy in Medical Residents of Alzira Velano University Hospital in Alfenas, Minas Gerais

ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION Much is discussed about the importance of empathy in the patient-physician relationship. Few studies have evaluated this ability in resident physicians (RPs). OBJECTIVE To evaluate the empathy of the resident physicians of the University Hospital Alzira Velano (HUAV), through the Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE), which provides 4 types of scores: General Empathy (GE); Perspective Taking (PT); Compassionate Care (CC) and Standing in Patient’s Shoes (SP). METHODS The JSE and a sociodemographic questionnaire were applied to 36 RPs of the HUAV at the beginning of the second semester of 2016, after they signed the informed consent form. RESULTS Statistical analysis by the Mann-Whitney test showed that empathy scores were associated with variables: gender, area of performance (clinical or surgical) and period of residence in progress. For the variable gender, the following findings were observed: 1) Female RPs of the 1st year had higher GE scores than the RPs in the ≥ 2nd year (p = 0.01) and (0.03), respectively; 2) female RP’s of 1st year had higher TP scores than RPs of ≥ 2nd year (p = 0.03). Regarding the area of performance, 1) the GE scores of the 1st year RPs were higher when compared to the RPs in the ≥ 2nd year, both for the clinical (p = 0.03) and for the surgical area (p = 0.02); 2) RPs of the surgical area had higher PT scores in the 1st year compared to RPs in the ≥ 2nd year (p = 0.01). No association was observed between the studied factors and CC and SP scores. CONCLUSION The data show that the empathy scores of the RPs of the final years are lower in relation to the RPs of the 1 st year, a fact also verified for female RPs. Our data are in agreement with the observations of the literature and show the importance of the development of instructional strategies for the teaching of empathy among resident physicians.