Abstract
Graduate Medical Education (GME) program coordinators/administrators play essential roles in supporting GME programs, yet their professional development rarely includes structured empathy training. This Dissertation in Practice (DIP) addresses that gap by designing and implementing an empathy training program tailored to this group. The purpose was to explore the feasibility of delivering a structured empathy training program and to examine changes in participants’ personal empathy levels across three time points. The aim was to guide future empathy-focused professional development in GME.This DIP utilized a pilot design with pre-, post-, and 30-day follow-up assessments. The intervention included a two-day, in-person empathy training program followed by a 30-day virtual follow-up session, with empathy assessed using validated instruments measuring cognitive, affective, and behavioral components. Participant reflections provided additional insight into the training experience. Results indicated measurable increases in empathy scores over time, with the greatest gains observed at the 30-day follow-up assessment. The document is organized into three sections. Section One outlines the problem, literature, purpose, research question, aim, and methods; Section Two presents the submission-ready manuscript; and Section Three offers a Practitioner Recommendation Plan with strategies for integrating empathy development within GME. These sections provide a comprehensive overview and foundation for ongoing work to strengthen empathy as a professional competency.