Activities to promote empathy for patients among pharmacy learners: A scoping review

Background: Provider empathy has been shown to be directly linked to improved patient outcomes. The objective of this scoping review of the literature was to identify and describe learning activities that promote empathy for patients among pharmacy learners.

Methods: This scoping review was conducted using the following inclusion criteria: publication in English, activities conducted in any academic pharmacy training program (professional degree program, experiential, residency, or fellowship), description of the learning activity(ies) provided, and focus on the experience of empathy/caring/compassion for patients, either human or animal. Articles were excluded if they focused only on skills such as empathic responding or if they did not describe the learning experience. All study designs other than reviews were included.

Results: The scoping review revealed 89 full-text articles that met the inclusion criteria. Included studies demonstrated a wide variety of approaches to the design of learning experiences as well as methods of measurement of empathy. Various types of learning modalities have been used to develop empathy in pharmacy learners, with reflection being the most common. A large proportion of studies that assessed empathy development used quasi-experimental or qualitative designs and did not report tests of statistical significance, which would make it difficult to compare the effectiveness of the different learning activities.

Implications: A variety of approaches have been used among pharmacy learners to develop empathy for patients. Due to the high level of variability in approaches, more rigorous studies are needed to assess the effectiveness of these learning activities.