Introduction

Empathy is critical in building teacher-student relationships. Little research is available evaluating the empathetic capacity of faculty who teach in healthcare professional programs. This study's objectives were to describe how faculty define empathy, describe faculty perspectives on the role of empathy in pharmacy education, and discuss the potential barriers to demonstrating empathy to students.

Methods

A qualitative research approach was utilized for this study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with faculty members randomly selected from an accelerated doctor of pharmacy program. All interviews were transcribed, and an interpretive phenomenological approach was used to describe, code, and analyze the experiences.

Results

Results showed that faculty naturally define empathy more from an emotional aspect rather than a cognitive one. Faculty have a consensus on the role of empathy in education and believe it essential for building relationships with students and fostering positive learning environments. Further, most faculty think that empathy is an innate ability, but that empathy can be developed through life experiences and training. Significant challenges of being empathetic in educational environments are associated with the instructor, learner, and learning itself, including demanding time and energy, establishing boundaries, maintaining standards, and handling challenging students.

Conclusions

Faculty perceptions of empathy in education revealed empathetic teaching plays an essential role in building teacher-student relationships and positively impacting students' learning. Empathy is a critical skill and characteristic for healthcare profession educators to possess. The development of empathy training modules may be helpful to improve faculty's empathy.

中文翻译：

---

评估药学教师对教育同理心的看法：一项定性研究

介绍

同理心对于建立师生关系至关重要。很少有研究可以评估在医疗保健专业课程中任教的教师的同理心能力。本研究的目的是描述教师如何定义同理心，描述教师对同理心在药学教育中的作用的看法，并讨论向学生展示同理心的潜在障碍。

方法

本研究采用定性研究方法。对从加速的药学博士项目中随机选择的教职员工进行了半结构化访谈。所有访谈都被转录，并使用解释性现象学方法来描述、编码和分析这些经历。

结果

结果表明，教师自然更多地从情感方面而不是认知方面来定义同理心。教职员工对同理心在教育中的作用达成共识，并相信它对于与学生建立关系和营造积极的学习环境至关重要。此外，大多数教师认为同理心是一种与生俱来的能力，但同理心可以通过生活经历和培训来培养。在教育环境中具有同理心的重大挑战与教师、学习者和学习本身有关，包括需要时间和精力、建立界限、保持标准和处理具有挑战性的学生。

结论

教师对教育中的同理心的看法表明，同理心教学在建立师生关系和对学生的学习产生积极影响方面起着至关重要的作用。同理心是医疗保健专业教育者必须具备的一项关键技能和特征。同理心培训模块的开发可能有助于提高教师的同理心。