Empathy training in healthcare: an umbrella review

Empathy among healthcare professionals is declining due to burnout and demands of clinical practice. By honing empathetic skills, clinicians can improve patient-centered care, communication, trust, and healthcare outcomes. While prior reviews on empathy training in healthcare exist, many focus on narrow inclusion criteria, resulting in a lack of a comprehensive understanding of empathy training across the broad spectrum of healthcare. We conducted an umbrella review of these reviews to assess the impacts of various training, educational, or experiential learning methods on empathy among healthcare providers, staff, and students. We searched PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science using terms such as “empathy,” “compassion,” and “training,” to identify systematic, scoping, and narrative reviews on empathy training for healthcare workers and students. Two coders screened and coded the reviews, including their inclusion and exclusion criteria (e.g., sample, training methods), number of studies included, and results of each review. Study quality for each review was assessed using AMSTAR. Across 42 reviews, 71% conclude that empathy training is associated with positive outcomes for students, staff, providers, or patients. Empathy training appears to be effective for all health-related professions, including both students and practicing healthcare workers. Training that encourages active participation (e.g., experiential learning, reflective exercises) is generally associated with better outcomes compared to more passive methods. Training that integrates self-reflection and incorporates patients into the training also appears more impactful. Learner engagement and training methods significantly influence empathy training outcomes. There is a need to standardize empathy assessment tools and increase long-term follow-up to assess sustainability of outcomes.