Assessing the empathy of medical students during medical interview training in Japan by using mixed-methods surveys of simulated patients.

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Medical interviews are performed during objective structured clinical examinations, to assess the communication skills of medical students. In particular, medical students are assessed regarding whether they demonstrate empathy during these staged interviews. However, no studies to date have analyzed the validity of the methods to evaluate empathy during objective structured clinical examinations. Here we sought to identify factors affecting whether simulated (standardized) patients (SPs) felt that the medical students had treated them empathetically during medical interview training. The training involved the participation of SPs during the bedside learning of fifth-year medical students in Japan. After the students completed medical interview training, we conducted a questionnaire-based survey. We developed the list of questionnaire items through semi-structured interviews asking SPs to describe when the student had been empathetic. The item "I felt that the student was empathic throughout the interview" was significantly correlated with "I was given enough time to talk at the beginning of the interview," "The student made good eye contact," "The student's attitude was appropriate," "I was able to say enough of what I wanted to talk about," and "The student used phrases that expressed empathy." Multiple regression analysis revealed that "The student used phrases that expressed empathy" was the only independent predictor of "I felt that the student was empathic throughout the interview." The factor that correlated most strongly with the SP feeling that the student was empathic during a medical interview was "The student used phrases that expressed empathy." However, correlations also occurred with open-ended questions and the student's level of attention at the beginning of the interview and with the student's attitude. Together, these findings indicate that several types of both verbal and nonverbal communication determined whether SPs felt that medical students showed empathy during staged medical interviews.