Empathy: have we got it and do we need it?

Increasingly research is exploring attributes other than clinical competence that paramedics may need in order to effectively manage the healthcare of their patients. One such quality is that of empathy. Empathy is defined in different ways, but in healthcare it is frequently associated with the ability of an individual practitioner to appreciate and contextualise the patient’s experience, feelings and circumstances while retaining a professional objectivity. There is little previous work on paramedic empathy so the aim of this cross-sectional study was to assess the extent of empathy in paramedic students from seven different universities in Australia.

The research achieved a 42.9% response rate with a convenience sample of 783 (female n=449/57.3%) students completing a paper-based questionnaire: first year students n=377; second year students n=246; third year students n=150. As this only totals 773, it is possible that 10 students did not complete this element of the demographic data.

Another area that requires further detail is where the paper refers to the involvement of students from Years 1, 2 and 3, but then Table2 gives data for Year 4. This could possibly be linked to the ‘double degree’ that is mentioned, but some clairif cation on this point would be helpful.