Maintaining and Developing Empathy; A novel experiential learning solution

Maintaining and Developing Empathy

A novel experiential learning solution

Dr. Scott Dunham

Director, Curriculum and Faculty Development

Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College
May 1, 2019
 Imagine…

▪ Orientation week
▪ Getting to know people, waking up on the 4th day
after 3 straight late nights, parties, etc.
▪ Thing on the schedule, no idea what it is.

▪ Then Dr. Dunham comes in and says this… “in an

hour, you will be seeing your first patient….

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And then 1 hour later….
This happens…
 Brianna

▪ August ▪ February

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 Braeden

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 So why did we do this?

▪ Our students
▪ Our profession
▪ Our education
▪ Board exam success
▪ Life-long learning

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 Experiential Learning Considerations

▪ Importance of Framing – other students

▪ Closing the loop – group discussion

▪ Construction of learning through the reflection on

experience

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This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND
 So why study empathy?

▪ Empathy decreases (purposefully or not-

purposefully) as students go through health-related
fields
▪ Increases Patient Outcomes
▪ Decreases risk of litigation
▪ Empathy can be determined through a variety of
means

Fields et. Al., 2011

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9
 Observable Indicators of Empathy

10 This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

 Body Posture

▪ Braeden ▪ Brianna

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 Purpose

▪ Capture student before we teach them stuff

▪ Useful as a reminder for future scenarios
▪ When students become robots or start to treat
patients like numbers of pieces of meat
▪ Enhance focus on empathetic skills and soft skills
▪ Draw attention to these tendencies/traits

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 History, Physical, Diagnosis Exercise

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 Brianna

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 Braeden

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 Body Posture

▪ Braeden ▪ Brianna

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 Feedback

▪ The essence of Experiential Learning

▪ Immediacy is important
▪ Patient and Clinician perspective
▪ Formative

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed

17 under CC BY-NC
 Reflection

▪ After HPDs, comparing to their performance 5

months previous
▪ Re-enforces that they are improving
▪ Reflecting on good and bad aspects
▪ Model Clinicians

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 Other EL at CMCC

▪ Sim Lab
▪ Psychomotor Skill Development
▪ EPortfolio
▪ Clinical Observations
▪ Clinic Internship
▪ OSCE

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Examination Rooms –OSCEs (55 mins)

5 6 5 6 5 6

4 7 4 7 4 7

5 mins 3 8 3 8 3 8

2 9 2 9 2 9

1 10 1 10 1 10
 OSCE Rationale

▪ As students progress through the first 3 years of the

Doctor of Chiropractic program at CMCC they satisfy
learning outcomes and competencies from many
courses pertaining to clinical management.

▪ The OSCE was devised as a comprehensive, objective

measure of a student’s clinical competency, to monitor
their progress, and address areas of concern prior to
entering their clinical year.

▪ The OSCE also provided experiential learning and an

opportunity to reflect.
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 Increasing Empathetic Behaviours

Increasing Complexity

Year I Year II Year III Year IV

OSCE OSCE OSCE OSCE

Neck and Entire Body Entire Body Midterm

Lower Back + Varying and Final
Populations

Program Exit Competencies

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 Future Directions

▪ A focus on empathy and empathic behavior is

beneficial in many fields
▪ Follow through the program
▪ Objective Outcome Measures
▪ Treat as an essential skill

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 Acknowledgments

▪ Dr. David Starmer

▪ Brianna and Braeden
▪ Dr. Christine Bradaric-Baus

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 Questions?

▪ sdunham@cmcc.ca

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 Bad Doctor

▪ Video of bad Doctor skills

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 Psycho-social components of Health

▪ “It has been shown that empathetic medical

students are more concerned than others about the
contribution of psychosocial factors in health and
illness, which suggests that these students may be
more receptive to the biopsychosocial, rather than
the biomedical model of disease.” (Hojat et. Al,
2004 p. 939).

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