Impact of Perfectionism and Resilience on Empathy in Medical Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

Empathy is a cognitive attribute that forms the cornerstone for good doctor-patient encounters. The formative period for the development of empathy toward patients begins with clinical encounters within medical school. An individual medical student's empathy levels may in part be a product of their resilience and perfectionist attitudes. A cross-sectional study with 320 medical students across all years of study was conducted to determine the correlation of perfectionism and resilience with clinical empathy in medical students. The JSE-S, CD-RISC 10, and APS-R scales were used to assess levels of empathy, resilience, and perfectionism, respectively. The study found that a positive correlation exists between resilience (r= 0.174) and academic year with empathy, and a negative correlation exists between maladaptive perfectionism and empathy (r= -0.138). The resilience score declined progressively as the year of study progressed with a statistically significant. Mean empathy scores were lowest in fifth-year students (96.8 +/- 12.5) and highest in third-year students (107.8 +/- 13.2). Further longitudinal studies are necessary to better understand the impact of resilience and perfectionism on empathy.