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Levels of empathic orientation in dental students at uniandes, ambato

Abstract:

Empathy at the level of health care implies an effort on the part of the health professional to understand the patient’s reality, feelings, experiences and perspective of the health-disease process because it contributes to a more accurate and timely diagnosis and treatment. Despite its importance, it is not always adequately applied in clinical practice, which is why this study was carried out with the aim of establishing the levels of empathic orientation of dental students at the Universidad Au-tónoma de los Andes (UNIANDES), Ambato. An observational, descriptive and cross-sectional methodology was used in 80 ninth and tenth semester students of Dentistry, who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria, who with their informed consent and using the digital tool Google Forms, answered the 20 questions of the Jefferson empathy scale in its Spanish version. The survey showed that more than half of the students presented a medium level of empathic orientation at a general level and with respect to the dimensions, a high level in “Perspective taking”, a low level in “Compassionate care” and a medium level in “Putting oneself in the patient’s place”. The results showed that it is necessary to improve the level of empathic orientation in each of its dimensions in order to improve the quality of care provided to patients in the dental area.