Culturing the Empathic Health Professional: Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

The selection of our future healthcare professionals is primarily based on a combination of their undergraduate grade point average (GPA) and national examinations, primarily the medical college admissions test (MCAT) or graduate record examination (GRE). Much focus is applied to "getting students ready" to excel in these areas through a combination of heavy individual science curricular components and training in analytical thinking. In contrast, there is little or no emphasis on developing empathy in these students, despite strong evidence that this skill is a requirement for effective patient recovery. In this monograph, I will explore our current understanding of the two types of empathy--affective and cognitive--looking at both brain chemistry and social fabric in maintaining their development. In trying to solve the problem of learning cognitive empathy, I have drawn on more than 20 years of classroom discussion and rubric development with undergraduate health majors, and I suggest that cognitive empathy is a teachable skill. Planting the empathy seed in the undergraduate fertile ground of liberal arts and combining this with role-play simulations in upper-level classes is an optimal start. Continuing the process at the graduate school level in order to counteract erosion and possible exposure to negative behaviors is essential. Finally, the monograph also explores the frequent contradiction between performance on standardized tests and a student's empathic skill, and it ends with some possible holistic strategies for recruitment.