Correlation between Resident Physician and Patient Perceptions of Empathy in the Emergency Department

Background: Empathy is essential for emergency medicine physicians, impacting patient outcomes and experiences, especially in the fast-paced emergency department (ED). However, empathy often declines during medical training, negatively affecting care. Little is known about how emergency medicine trainees perceive their empathy compared to their patients. Objective: This study aimed to explore the correlation between patient perceptions of resident physician empathy and residents’ self-perceptions during ED visits. Methods: This was a prospective observational study was conducted at a Level 1 Trauma and Tertiary Care Center in the south-central U.S., using the Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) Measure. At patient disposition, ED patients rated their resident physician’s empathy, followed by residents rating their own empathy delivery. Ratings were categorized as high (>81%) or low (≤80%) empathy providers. The primary outcome was the correlation between patient and resident empathy ratings; secondary outcomes examined the effects of age, sex, and race. Results: Residents rated themselves as high empathy providers 32.6% of the time, while patients rated their residents as high empathy providers 68.5% of the time. Only 6% of interactions involved residents rating themselves as high empathy providers when patients did not. Older patients rated residents as low empathy providers slightly more often than younger patients. Differences in race and gender did not significantly impact empathy ratings. Conclusion: Our findings reveal a significant gap between resident physicians’ self-assessments of empathy and patients’ assessments, with residents often rating themselves lower than their patients did, highlighting a disconnect in self-perception among emergency medicine trainees.