Recommended Citation
Avasarala SK, Whitehouse S, and Drake SM. Internship and empathy: Variations across time and specialties. South Med J 2015; 108(10):591-595.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-1-2015
Publication Title
Southern medical journal
Keywords
Adult, Age Factors, Cohort Studies, Education, Medical, Empathy, Female, Humans, Internship and Residency, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Sex Factors, Specialization, Stress, Psychological, Surveys and Questionnaires, Young Adult
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To assess whether any differences exist in Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) scores among postgraduate year 1 (PGY-1) residents across specialties.
METHODS: PGY-1 residents representing 11 specialties at our academic institution were invited to take a Web-based IRI survey at three time points. The specialties were condensed into several binary groups for analysis: internal medicine (IM) versus non-IM; primary care (IM, family medicine) versus nonprimary care; emergency medicine (EM, including the combined IM/EM) versus non-EM; surgical specialties (general surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, otolaryngology, orthopedics, urology) versus nonsurgical specialties (EM, family medicine, IM, neurology, pathology, and psychiatry); men versus women; and age groups. A repeated-measures generalized-estimating equations approach was taken to analyze the effect of specialty and time on each of the four IRI subscales.
RESULTS: Of 94 PGY-1 residents invited to participate at each time point, 74 (77.1%) completed the survey at least once. Response rates at each time point were similar (mean 47.9%). When comparing the IM (n=35) and non-IM (n=39) groups, the perspective-taking subscale was found to be significantly lower in the non-IM group (P=0.006). Among male (n=46) versus female residents (n=26), the personal-distress subscale was significantly different overall (P=0.041) but not among time points. No other significant differences were found between groups. The conglomerate subscale scores throughout the year did not show a dramatic change.
CONCLUSIONS: Our study of IRI subscales in PGY-1 residents showed no major difference among specialties across 1 year except for IM residents, who scored significantly higher (more favorably) in the perspective-taking subscale. Contrary to previous studies, we did not observe a substantial decline in the empathic concern subscale IM residents over their first year.
Medical Subject Headings
Adult; Age Factors; Cohort Studies; Education, Medical; Empathy; Female; Humans; Internship and Residency; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Sex Factors; Specialization; Stress, Psychological; Surveys and Questionnaires; Young Adult
PubMed ID
26437187
Volume
108
Issue
10
First Page
591
Last Page
595
