Public Health Physicians and Empathy. Are we really empathic? The Jefferson Scale applied to Italian resident doctors in Public Health

Physician Empathy Towards Patients: A Survey in Iranian Teaching Hospitals

“…of standing in patients' shoes and perspective caring indicates the need for improving theoretical attitudes of the physics towards the clinical significance of empathy and to strength their relevant psychological skills. Both of these needs would be at least partially met by training 2,10. The average level of empathy observed in our physicians (100.7) compares with that in some previous studies which have used a similar scale.…”

“…Similarly, a survey among medical students in Kuwait, identified an empathy score mean of 104.6. 20 Nonetheless, the average empathy level as observed in our physicians was lower as compared with the studies of Di Lillo et al (Italy),3 Williams et al (Australia),9 Soncini et al (Italy)10 and Sherman et al (United States), 21 all of which reporting an upper-intermediate level of empathy.…”

“…18,19 Standing at the next ranks, the relative scores Our finding that female physicians express higher level of empathy compared with their male counterparts is congruent to several previous studies from various countries. 9,10,[21][22][23] We also observed that physicians with main specialties (internal medicine, obstetrics, and pediatrics specialties) are more empathic toward the patients compared with other physicians. In addition, the level of empathy was found to be higher among physicians with human-centric specialties.…”

“…Age, fertility, and severity of EH in histology are the most important factors determining the treatment option [5]. Most studies have addressed hysterectomy in patients with atypical EH [5], particularly those with PCOS, and have led to conflicting results [5][6][7][8][9][10][11].…”

“…In the past decade, medical educators and professional health practitioners have increasingly emphasized the humanistic values and the clinical importance of empathy among medical students and specialist physicians. 2,10 Nonetheless, the issue has been poorly explored in an Iranian context. This study, thus, aimed to explore the empathic attitudes of specialist physicians towards patients and the possible influence of specialty on empathy level.…”