Changing behavior and promoting clinical empathy through a patient experience curriculum for health profession students

Objectives

The authors sought to explore how a curriculum that uses a patient experience simulation followed by reflection can lead to clinical empathy in learners and whether this experience leads to behavioral change. Further, in response to critiques of common pragmatic approaches to clinical empathy teaching in which empathy is operationalized and taught through formal trainings and checklists, the study aimed to contribute insights regarding how clinical empathy may best be taught to health profession students.

Methods

Twenty-six senior medical students participated in an in situ patient experience simulation during a 4-month period in 2021–2022 in an academic emergency department. The simulation was followed by a written reflection and a structured debrief. A thematic analysis was performed on transcripts of the group debriefs.

Results

In the group debriefs, learners described several empathetic behavioral changes they made after this intervention. First, learners discussed performing more small acts of kindness to improve patient care and humanize the patient experience. Second, learners discussed seeking to improve their communication through acknowledgment and validation of the patient experience. Finally, learners described actions to keep patients informed through frequent check-ins and setting expectations on time.

Conclusions

The findings suggest that empathy may not be simply transactional for health profession students and that an understanding of the patient experience leads to actions that improve the patient experience and alleviate suffering.