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. 2019 Jun 10;12(1):327.
doi: 10.1186/s13104-019-4365-2.

Role of empathy in the perception of medical errors in patient encounters: a preliminary study

Jean Hannan  1 , Gabriel Sanchez  2 , Erica D Musser  3 , Melissa Ward-Peterson  4 , Elizabeth Azutillo  5 , Deana Goldin  6 , Edgar Garcia Lara  7 , Aniuska M Luna  8 , Igor Galynker  9 , Adriana Foster  10
Affiliations

Role of empathy in the perception of medical errors in patient encounters: a preliminary study

Jean Hannan et al. BMC Res Notes. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Objective: Healthcare professionals' empathy have been empirically demonstrated to decrease the risk of medical errors. Medical errors affect patient's outcomes and healthcare providers' well-being. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between patients' perception of healthcare providers' empathy, their intention to adhere to treatment, and their perception of medical errors made. An anonymous survey was emailed to staff at a health center and an urban university in Miami, Florida, USA.

Results: A total of 181 participants were enrolled. Participants rating their healthcare provider as high in empathy had 80% lower odds of reporting errors (CI 0.04-0.6). The intention to follow-up with recommendations or return to the provider were not significantly associated with provider's empathy. Patients of high empathy providers were no more treatment adherent that those who rated their provider with low empathy but were less likely to perceive medical error. Providers' empathy significantly affected patients' perception of medical errors. Our results underscore that healthcare curricula need to address the link between empathy and perception of medical errors, including its potential legal implications.

Keywords: Adherence; CARE measure; Communication; Empathy; Medical error.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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