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Participants in this study included 20,961 diabetic patients from the Local Health Authority in Parma, Italy. These patients were enrolled with one of 242 primary care physicians, all of whom completed the Jefferson Scale of Empathy to measure empathy in the context of medical education and patient care. The scale includes 20 items answered on a seven-point Likert-type scale (strongly agree = 7, strongly disagree = 1). The researchers also measured and compared acute metabolic complications among diabetic patients.
One-hundred twenty-three patients were hospitalized due to acute metabolic complications in 2009. Results showed that physicians with higher levels of empathy had fewer patients with acute metabolic complications. For example, physicians with higher empathy levels had 29 (out of 7,224) patients admitted to the hospital, whereas physicians with lower levels had 42 (out of 6,434) patients admitted to hospitals.
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