Can empathy be taught? Reflections from a medical student active-listening workshop.

Medical students deserve training in active listening and counseling before they encounter patients in distress. At the Alpert Medical School of Brown University we created and evaluated a workshop that trains first-year medical students to assess patients' emotional states and express empathy in an efficient and effective manner. Using second-year students as near-peer facilitators, we integrated the workshop into the existing preclinical first-year curriculum.