Empathy in medical students of a private university in Lima, Peru: A descriptive study

Medical empathy is a characteristic that allows us to understand the subjective experiences and the perspective of the patient. Empathy can improve the clinical outcomes of our clinical actions. However, it is not easy to teach this ability in a medical school program. We aimed to identify the level of empathy and related factors in students enrolled in medicine in 2019. We conducted a cross-sectional, descriptive study. We used a questionnaire with sociodemographic questions, and Jefferson's Medical Empathy Scale to measure the variables. We surveyed 189 medical students. The mean score was 118,01 (range: 20 to 140), standard deviation, 11,61; median, 120; and a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0,76. We found that the year of the enrollment is inversely related to the level of empathy (p = 0,0095), that the female sex has a higher level of empathy (p = 0,0123) and that practicing a religious denomination is related to a higher level of empathy (p = 0,0001). Medical students have an above-average level of empathy when compared to other local studies. We describe higher levels of empathy according to sex, and religious beliefs, and an inverse relation to the year of enrollment.