Internship and Empathy. Issue 10 (October 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Avasarala, Sameer K.; Whitehouse, Sarah; Drake, Sean M.
• Is Part Of: Southern medical journal. Volume 108:Issue 10(2015)
• Publication Date: 2015-10
• Subjects: Medicine -- Periodicals; 610.5
• DOI: 10.14423/SMJ.0000000000000347
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0038-4348

Abstract

<abstract> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <sec> <title>Objectives</title> <p>To assess whether any differences exist in Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) scores among postgraduate year 1 (PGY-1) residents across specialties.</p> </sec> <sec> <title>Methods</title> <p>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.</p> </sec> <sec> <title>Results</title> <p>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 (<italic>P</italic> = 0.006). Among male (n = 46) versus female residents (n = 26), the personal-distress subscale was significantly different overall (<italic>P</italic> = 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.</p> </sec> <sec> <title>Conclusions</title> <p>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.</p> </sec> </abstract>