Medical Journal of the Islamic Republic Of Iran

en The Effects of an Empathic Communication Workshop on Internal Medicine Residents’ Self-Perceived Empathy and Their Patients’ Perception of Physician’s Empathy: A Single-Group Experimental Study Medical Education Medical Education Original Research Original Research Background: Empathetic communication improves the physician-patient relationship and enhances patient and physician satisfaction. This study aims to evaluate the impact of empathic communication skills training on physicians’ self-perceived performance and patient satisfaction regarding the empathetic quality of their relationship with their physicians.    Methods: In this single-group before-after experimental study, we recruited 50 internal medicine residents at a large teaching hospital. We assessed the residents’ empathy using the Jefferson Scale of Empathy before and 3 weeks after an 8-hour workshop on empathic communication skills. We also recruited 50 of their patients before and another 50 patients 3 weeks after the training to assess the patient’s perceptions of their physician’s empathy using the Consultation and Relational Empathy scale. Physicians’ and patients’ mean scores on empathetic care at the beginning of the study were then compared using paired t-tests with their scores after the workshop.    Results: The residents’ mean score on Jefferson Empathy Scale increased from 81.1 (95%CI:78.8-83.3) at baseline to 96.8 (95%CI:93.6-100) following the workshop (p < 0.001). Before the empathetic communication skills training, patients assessed their doctors' empathy at 68.3 (95%CI:63.5-73.2). After the intervention, this improved to 84.9 (95%CI:82.2-87.5) (p < 0.001).    Conclusion:  In this study, both the residents and their patients stated that the residents' empathy skills had significantly improved after an empathetic communication workshop for internal medicine residents.   Empathy, Communication Skills, Patient’s Perspective, Residents, Care, Relationship 1039 1043 http://mjiri.iums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-600-7&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Mohammad Amin Khajehazad mohamadamin92@gmail.com 200319475328460074433 200319475328460074433 No Center for Educational Research in Medical Sciences (CERMS), Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Masoomeh Faghankhani mfaghankhani@yahoo.com 200319475328460074434 200319475328460074434 No Department of Public Health, Brown School of Public Health, Washington University in Saint Louis, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA & Mental Health Research Center, School of Behavioral Sciences and Mental Health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran Iran Ali Asadi a.asadi@ymail.com 200319475328460074435 200319475328460074435 No School of Behavioral Science and Mental Health (Tehran Institute of Psychiatry), Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Elnaz Golalipour elnaazgolalipour@yahoo.com 200319475328460074436 200319475328460074436 No School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Seyed Vahid Shariat vahid.shariat@gmail.com 200319475328460074437 200319475328460074437 No School of Behavioral Science and Mental Health (Tehran Institute of Psychiatry), Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Morteza Naserbakht mnaserbakht@gmail.com 200319475328460074438 200319475328460074438 No Mental Health Research Center, Psychological Health research institute (PHRI), Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Hamid Bahador baradaran98@gmail.com 200319475328460074439 200319475328460074439 No Center for Educational Research in Medical Sciences (CERMS), Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Shahram Agah shahramagah@gmail.com 200319475328460074440 200319475328460074440 No Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Golnoosh Ansari golnoosh.a@gmail.com 200319475328460074441 200319475328460074441 No Center for Educational Research in Medical Sciences (CERMS), Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Farzaneh Barzkar barzkarfarzane@gmail.com 200319475328460074442 200319475328460074442 No Center for Educational Research in Medical Sciences (CERMS), Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Hamid Baradaran baradaran.hr@iums.ac.ir 200319475328460074443 200319475328460074443 Yes Center for Educational Research in Medical Sciences (CERMS), Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran