Medical teacher
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This study was designed to examine the relationships between scores of two measures of empathy. One was specifically developed for measuring empathy in patient care situations; the other was developed for the general population. It was hypothesized that the overlap between scores of the two measures would be greater for their constructs that are more relevant to patient care. ⋯ The research hypothesis was confirmed by observing higher correlations between those scales of the IRI that were relevant to patient care (e.g. empathic concern, perspective taking) and related factors of the JSPE (compassionate care, perspective taking) than other scales of the IRI that seemed less relevant to patient care (e.g. personal distress and fantasy). These findings provide further support for the validity of the JSPE. It is concluded that physician empathy as measured by the JSPE and its underlying factors are distinct personal attributes that have a limited overlap with fantasy and no overlap with personal distress defined as dimensions of an empathy measure that was developed for the general population.
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To establish medical students' professional competence for the medical profession, we designed a standardized observation procedure and the Amsterdam Attitude and Communication Scale (AACS) with nine five-point scale items, for summative assessment of their communication skills and professional attitudes. This study examines the reliability of the AACS assessment in clinical practice. In the Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, the performance of 442 fifth year clinical students was judged six times in two settings: behaviour in clinical practice was judged independently twice by a doctor and a nurse; one videotaped patient interview was judged independently by a doctor and by a psychologist. The final mark was obtained by averaging ratings across all six assessments. Raters were 88 doctors, 29 nurses, and three psychologists. ⋯ Standard errors (SEs) for absolute judgements indicate measurement precision. Precision of AACS scores is considered sufficient with SEs smaller than 0.25. Multi-disciplinary assessment of students' clinical performance using the AACS is feasible and sufficiently precise (with an overall mean of 3.97 and standard deviation of 0.55, the absolute SE is 0.21). Judgements of behaviour in the clinic were more precise (SEs range from 0.11 to 0.16) than judgements of videotaped interviews (SEs are 0.25 and 0.29). The procedure is sufficiently precise if five or six assessments are combined.