Clinical examiners, simulated patients, and student self-assessed empathy in medical students during a psychiatry objective structured clinical examination

O'Connor, K., King, R., Malone, K.M. and Guerandel, A. (2014) Clinical examiners, simulated patients, and student self-assessed empathy in medical students during a psychiatry objective structured clinical examination. Academic Psychiatry, 38 (4). pp. 451-457. ISSN 10429670 (ISSN)

Abstract

Objectives: This tudy aims to assess and compare objective and subjective scores of empathy in final-year medical students by using firstly a validated student self-assessment just prior to the psychiatry objective structured clinical examination (OSCE), and then comparing this to clinical examiner's and simulated patient's (SP's) assessments of empathy of students using a Global Rating of Empathy scale (GRE) during a psychiatry OSCE. Methods: In 2011, all final-year medical students in the University College Dublin were invited to complete a subjective, self-assessed empathy questionnaire (The Jefferson scale of physician empathy - student version (JSPE-S)). They were also assessed for empathy in four OSCEs by the clinical examiner and the SP acting in that OSCE scenario. Results: Included in the analysis were 163 of 184 final-year students JSPE-S (88.6 %) questionnaires. The female students scores on the JSPE-S were significantly higher than those of their male peers (t=3.34, p=0.001). Concurrent validity was greater between the SPs' assessments of empathy in the OSCE and the JSPE-S score than between the clinical examiners assessments of empathy and the JSPE-S score (r=0.23, p<0.005; r=0.14, p<0.08). Inter-rater reliability of SP's and clinical examiner's using the GRE was found to be high (F=0.868 (df=171, 171), p value <0.001). Conclusions: SPs may be valid assessors of empathy in medical students during an OSCE. © 2014 Academic Psychiatry.

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