Innovative andragogical strategies — simulation, narrative medicine, reflective writing — enhance empathy, compassion, and communication skills in medical students¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · review r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2026 · checked against its sources 2026-10-31 (automated, 2 of 2 entries) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Brief, targeted interventions using simulation-based learning, narrative medicine, and reflective writing have enhanced interpersonal qualities among medical students. → Zagalo Daniela Mariana 2026 q2 i? Narrative medicine, using reflective writing, literature, patient narratives and storytelling, has demonstrated significant benefits in medical education, fostering a humanistic view of illness and strengthening the doctor-patient relationship. → Zagalo Daniela Mariana 2026 (2)

Evidence¶

Zagalo Daniela Mariana 2026¶

Zagalo Daniela Mariana, Palmieri Cristiana, Resende Noelle, Costa Teresa, de Sousa Rute Dinis, Canhão Helena, Bozza Fernando A. (2026). Towards patient-centered healthcare: a scoping review of soft skills training in medical schools. BMC Medical Education. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-026-09059-0

q2 · i? · review · r2

The review's own synthesis of its included literature in the Discussion section reports that simulation-based learning, narrative medicine, and reflective writing "have significantly enhanced these interpersonal qualities" of empathy, compassion, and communication skills among medical students. Narrative review synthesis, no pooled effect size printed.

"Modalities such as simulation-based learning, narrative medicine, and reflective writing have significantly enhanced these interpersonal qualities [58, 85, 126–131, 136, 138, 138]."

Zagalo Daniela Mariana 2026 (2)¶

Zagalo Daniela Mariana, Palmieri Cristiana, Resende Noelle, Costa Teresa, de Sousa Rute Dinis, Canhão Helena, Bozza Fernando A. (2026). Towards patient-centered healthcare: a scoping review of soft skills training in medical schools. BMC Medical Education. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-026-09059-0

q2 · i? · review · r2

Results-section synthesis describing narrative medicine as an approach that "has demonstrated significant benefits in medical education", including enhanced residents' professional growth, communication skills, and empathetic care. No effect size printed; attributed to the review's corpus.

"Narrative medicine, which involves the use of reflective writing, literature, patient narratives and storytelling, is another approach that has demonstrated significant benefits in medical education [59, 67, 79, 81, 82, 136, 137]."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Communication Skills — outcome: instruction changes it
• Oral Language — outcome: instruction changes it
• Social Awareness and Relationship Skills — outcome: instruction changes it

Related Claims¶

• Communication skills training programs improve clinician patient-centeredness, but training approaches are variable and long-term retention is untested — related
• Empathy is the most frequently studied soft skill in medical education literature (22 of 83 included studies) — related
• Experiential knowledge from clinicians and patients is underrepresented in the obstetric emergency literature — related
• Students perceive that interacting with others in experiential learning fosters empathy and a sense of community by enhancing perspective-taking (beauty) — related
• Empathy and communication interventions show short-term gains but evidence on persistence over time is inconsistent — related
• Reflective and cognitively oriented CPR approaches show potential for enhancing long-term skill retention, particularly at follow-up — related
• Review reports a game-based learning course increased adolescents' empathy and compassion in migration/refugee context — related
• Simulation dominates the literature on obstetric emergency knowledge-building, but evidence for sustained behaviour change and clinical impact remains limited — related
• A progressive transition from knowledge-centred assessment towards performance-based and experiential assessment is evident across the included studies — related
• Student-centered innovative strategies (PBL, EBL, simulation, TBL, blended and online learning) showed positive effects in pharmaceutical care learning — related
• Simulation increases participants' empathy, communication and interpersonal skills and decreases anxiety — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Virtual patient interventions improved medical students' empathy in all 19 included studies, with effects reported immediately after intervention in 17 studies — a narrower finding that bears on this claim