Defining the difference between empathy and sympathy can be challenging and, in everyday language, people often get the two confused. However, making the distinction between the two is key in medicine and is often tested in your interviews.
In this guide, we’re taking time to understand the differences and each of their applications in medicine to help you prepare for your interviews.
Written by Ayma Ahmed
Empathy and Sympathy - What’s the difference?
Empathy and sympathy are similar terms but have very different applications in real life.
What is Sympathy?
Sympathy – feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else’s misfortune
By basic definition, sympathy is when you express care or concern for an individual and their feelings without needing to understand and share those emotions yourself.
What is Empathy?
Empathy – the ability to understand and share the feelings of another
In comparison, empathy is being able to understand and relate to the emotions that are expressed to you. In simple terms, empathy is being able to put yourself in the shoes of the other person.
What Are The Differences?
The key distinction between the two is that empathy is being able to understand those feelings whereas with sympathy you are merely just acknowledging them. This may not sound that major, but being able to understand one’s emotions when working as a medical professional.
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Empathy vs Sympathy Example - Breaking Bad News
Putting this into practice, let’s take an example of having to break the news to someone on your football team that they will not be able to play in the next match.
As an example, what is you said the following:
’I have some bad news, unfortunately, you will be unable to play in the next match, I’m sorry and I can tell that you are finding this difficult’
This would just be sympathy, but what if you were to understand that person’s emotion deeply, for example by saying:
‘I know how much you’ve been looking forward to this match, especially with all the extra work you’ve been putting in’
You are now empathising with this individual.
Both the skills of empathy and sympathy are important in medicine, as more often than not you will have to break some form of bad news to a patient and breaking news will deeply affect those patients. By empathising and sympathising with patients, you are able to understand their emotions and form a patient-doctor relationship, leading to better patient outcomes.
So how might you be asked about sympathy and empathy in interviews and MMIs?
Empathy or Sympathy Interview Question
There are many examples of questions that can be asked on the topic of sympathy and empathy, many of which will test your ability to give examples of times you have used the skills yourself as well as their significance in medicine. However, one question often trips up many students every year:
Which skill is more important in medicine – sympathy or empathy?
Now, there is no correct answer here, you can decide that either sympathy or empathy are more important for doctors. It is ideal that you choose a side here for your argument. Here’s one example of an answer:
Model Answer
Both empathy and sympathy are important for doctors. First I think it is key to make the distinction between the two. Sympathy is being able to recognise what a patient is going through, whereas empathy is the ability to understand the perspective of that patient in a compassionate way.
That being said, I believe that empathy plays a much more important role in medicine. For example, if I take an example from my work experience where a patient had the news broken to them that they had cancer, it was integral that the doctor used empathy here rather than sympathy.
The doctor’s choice to actively listen and recognise the patient’s fears of their diagnosis, as well as explaining that this was not something that they had to go through alone, was much more effective than merely telling the patient that they were sorry they were going through this.
The doctor’s display of empathy here led to a deeper patient-doctor relationship and therefore ensured that patient-centred care was delivered. Overall, this experience highlighted to me that empathy is a much more valuable skill in medicine as it allows doctors to provide support that is personalised for that patient.
This was just one way of answering this question. However, it was good in a number of ways. The answer starts off by making a distinction between the two skills and highlighting where each skill is needed in medicine, before relating their skills towards a personalised reflection from their work experience, demonstrating why empathy was a much more valued skill in this conversation in comparison to sympathy.
I hope this guide has been useful in helping you understand the distinction between these two concepts. Empathy is especially vital as a doctor, so be sure to practice how you can demonstrate this during your interviews.
There are plenty more techniques to learn and potential questions to prepare for, so be sure to explore our library of interview guides for free. For more in-depth support, our Interview Tutoring Bundles as available to offer you everything you need to succeed in your interviews. From one-to-one tutoring hours to a vast collection of materials, our bundle is truly the most impactful support available for your med school interviews. Book a consultation today to speak with our team about how we can support you.
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