Humanism at heart: preserving empathy in third-year medical students.

Purpose: Research suggests that medical student empathy erodes during undergraduate medical education. The authors evaluated the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy Medical Student Version (JSPE-MS) scores of two consecutive medical school classes to assess the impact of an educational intervention on the preservation of empathy.

Method: The authors conducted a before-and-after study of 209 Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS) students enrolled in the classes of 2009 and 2010.

Evaluating the performance of pelvic floor exercises in women with urinary incontinence.

Objective: To evaluate the strength of pelvic floor muscles in women with urinary incontinence and to evaluate relief of symptoms using biofeedback therapy.

Study Design: Women complaining of urinary incontinence and reporting the ability to perform pelvic floor exercises participated in this 4-week clinical trial. Participants underwent evaluation with objective measurement, using a biofeedback software package.