Developing Emotional Intelligence Through a Longitudinal Leadership Curriculum in UME: Combating the Decline in Medical Student Empathy.
Jeanne L Jacoby, Amy B Smith, Deborah J DeWaay, Robert D Barraco, Marna Rayl Greenberg, Bryan G Kane, Jennifer E Macfarlan, Kevin R Weaver, Joann Farrell Quinn
Author Information
Jeanne L Jacoby: Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network/University South Florida Morsani College of Medicine (USF-MCOM), Lehigh Valley Campus, Allentown, PA USA. ORCID
Amy B Smith: Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network/University South Florida Morsani College of Medicine (USF-MCOM), Lehigh Valley Campus, Allentown, PA USA.
Deborah J DeWaay: University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine (USF-MCOM), Tampa Campus, Tampa, FL USA.
Robert D Barraco: Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network/University South Florida Morsani College of Medicine (USF-MCOM), Lehigh Valley Campus, Allentown, PA USA.
Marna Rayl Greenberg: Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network/University South Florida Morsani College of Medicine (USF-MCOM), Lehigh Valley Campus, Allentown, PA USA.
Bryan G Kane: Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network/University South Florida Morsani College of Medicine (USF-MCOM), Lehigh Valley Campus, Allentown, PA USA.
Jennifer E Macfarlan: Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network/University South Florida Morsani College of Medicine (USF-MCOM), Lehigh Valley Campus, Allentown, PA USA.
Kevin R Weaver: Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network/University South Florida Morsani College of Medicine (USF-MCOM), Lehigh Valley Campus, Allentown, PA USA.
Joann Farrell Quinn: University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine (USF-MCOM), Tampa Campus, Tampa, FL USA.
We report on a novel curriculum (Scholarly Excellence, Leadership Experiences, Collaborative Training [SELECT]) in an allopathic medical school designed to prepare students to be physician leaders while remaining empathetic by combating burnout. SELECT students were surveyed annually. The survey contained the Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE) and Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). In this cohort, empathy did not decrease, as measured by the JSE, and SELECT students' MBI Depersonalization burnout scores decreased after year 3. In summary, in this allopathic US medical school utilizing a novel curriculum, there was no significant decline in empathy after the third year of medical school. The SELECT program appears to mitigate the decline in empathy and increased Depersonalization burnout levels often seen at the end of the third year of medical school.
