Chennai Medical students unlikely to be altruistic doctors: Study
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CHENNAI: Medical colleges may churn out deft doctors but erode empathy in them, a study tracking the altruistic behaviour among MBBSstudents in the city says.
A cross-sectional study conducted in 224 students pursuing their undergraduation in a city-based medical college revealed that less than half of them engage in simple acts of altruism such as donating to charity. Only 31% claimed to have gone out of their way to help someone such as donating blood or pushing a stranger's broken down vehicle. A little more than a quarter of them were christened as "limited altruists", confining themselves to basic humanitarian acts like offering their seat in a bus to another passenger.
A cross-sectional study conducted in 224 students pursuing their undergraduation in a city-based medical college revealed that less than half of them engage in simple acts of altruism such as donating to charity. Only 31% claimed to have gone out of their way to help someone such as donating blood or pushing a stranger's broken down vehicle. A little more than a quarter of them were christened as "limited altruists", confining themselves to basic humanitarian acts like offering their seat in a bus to another passenger.
The study, published recently in the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics, also found that as the students progressed through medical college, their altruistic behaviour became less frequent.
Lead author Sanjai S, a final year student at ESIC Medical College and PGIMSR, KK Nagar, attributed the decline in empathy to various factors, including increase in workload, inability to deal with demands, and the influence of teachers who are pressed by "market forces".
The students, in the 17-23 years age group with more than half of them being women, were given questionnaires with a set of 20 situations that assessed their tendency to help others. Professors say the change in attitude when a student enters and leaves a medical college is stark. Altruism, empathy, generosity of spirit, love of learning, high ethical standards are eroded at the end of the medical training. Dr Vijayaprasad Gopichandran, assistant professor, department of community medicine at the ESIC college, said humanistic tendencies are often sidelined because of the high emphasis on the curriculum.
Retired government doctor J Amalorpavanathan found the study result surprising. "Students may not be as exposed to the community as they were before but they still exposed to the uncertainty of life early on. They see death, deprivation, penury and suffering on a daily basis. It should make them more empathetic," he said, adding if there is a decline it could be because of a lack of proper mentorship in medical education.
Researchers found that among the few who showed higher altruistic tendencies, 86% attributed the behaviour to their parents' teaching and about 35% of them had role models in college, most of them teachers. Surprisingly, no other demographic factor, such as native place, type of school attended or religion, had a significant influence on the respondents' nature of altruism.
But, according to clinical psychologist Keerthi Pai, this personality trait can be taught. "Studies have shown that altruism and empathy can be instilled just like a habit," she said. She didn't find the study results surprising. "When people are less strained they express more altruism," she said, adding the decline was evident in the general population too.
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