(339) Assessing Global Healthcare Empathy in Pharmacy Students before and after Interprofessional Education

Objective : To assess pharmacy student global healthcare professional empathy scores before interprofessional education (IPE) in first year student pharmacists (P1) and after IPE in second year student pharmacists (P2).

Methods: The validated Kiersma-Chen Empathy Scale Revised (KCES-R) was administered to P1 students (n=53) who have not participated in IPE and P2 students (n=22) who completed IPE at Houston Outreach Medicine, Education, and Social Services (HOMES) Clinic or Denver Harbor Family Health Center during the 2023-2024 academic year. P1 student empathy was assessed before and after watching an empathy-based video as the control. P2 students completed KCES-R before and after their IPE. Baseline demographic characteristics were assessed. The primary outcome of the difference in mean change of KCES-R global healthcare professional empathy scores as ratio data of questions 1–7 was analyzed using a Mann-Whitney U test. The secondary outcome of mean change in score by question per group used related-samples ratio data analyzed by a Wilcoxon Signed Rank test.

Results: There was no statistically significant difference in change in KCES-R subscale global health professional empathy scores between the P1 and P2 students (p=.391). Questions 6,7,8,9,13, and 14 had a statistically significant increase in score for P1 students, while questions 1,2,8,9, and 13 had a statistically significant increase in score for P2 students.

Conclusions: Based on preliminary results, there was no difference in overall global healthcare professional empathy scores in P2 students after IPE, compared to the P1 student control group. Full assessment of this difference will be analyzed with the final results, as P2 students are still being actively recruited.