EMPATHY CAPACITY OF MEDICAL TEACHERS FROM THE PONTIFICAL CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF ECUADOR

Introduction: Empathy is a fundamental factor in the development of interpersonal relationships, useful as it is to understand the problems, achievements, illusions and all the feelings of an individual. In education it also plays a crucial role, since it is a key element for an appropriate relationship between teachers and students. Objective: Determine the empathy capacity of teachers from the Medical School at the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador from October to December 2017. Methods: A descriptive study was conducted which was based on surveys: Baron[1]Cohen's test both virtually and physically. A total 97 teachers responded to our survey. Results: Empathy capacity was found to be high in 91.8% and low in 8.2% of the teachers surveyed. Younger teachers had greater empathy capacity than elder teachers. On the other hand, teachers with a shorter service time at the Medical School displayed better empathy capacity than teachers of more years' experience. Conclusions: Most of the teachers at the Medical School of the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador had high empathy capacity. A strong relationship was found between teachers' age and their empathy capacity.