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Essay 3 Draft 1
Essay 3 Draft 1
Madison McQuagge
English 1301-102
6 October 2023
Study with Medical Students in Their Third and Last Year” by N J Pohontsch, et al. is a research
article published in 2018 by BMC Medical Education, based on whether or not students' empathy
evolves throughout their medical career. The article and research took place in “Hamburg,
Germany. 2 Institute for Social Medicine and Epidemiology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck,
Germany” (238). According to Pohontsch, “We interviewed 24 medical students (six male and
six female students in their 6th semester as well as six male and six female students in their final
clinical year) using semi-structured interviews” (231). For the interview process, they gathered
students with different backgrounds and medical training to determine the evolution of their
empathy. As stated by Pohontsch, “Medical students‘ empathy evolves and changes during their
medical education” (232). Pohontsch wants to determine whether or not a medical students’
empathy towards patients and their healthcare matures during their studies. As stated by
Pohontsch, et al., “Medical students‘ empathy evolves and changes during their medical
education” (232). In the article, Pohontsch wants to be able to determine whether or not a
medical students’ empathy declines during their studies. Pohontsch’s article is effective in
supporting its argument because he claims credibility due to using logos by inserting tables,
ethos by claiming the credibility of the conductors of the research, and pathos by using the
First of all, Pohontsch captures his credibility in his article by using logos, inserting
tables. On page 234, Pohontsch inserted a table based on the interview variables. The table was
split into two different halves one with interview group A and the other half had interview group
B. Each group had 12 interviewees, 6 females and 6 males. However, Group A were all in
between the ages of 21 and 29 with 6 semesters of school. Group B were in between the ages of
24 and 43, with 13 semesters of medical school. Pohontsch inserts tables in the journal to
establish the credibility of the interview. The table is horizontal with Group A on the top, and
Group B is on the bottom. The table shows the readers that there were different factors such as
age, gender, and medical experience put into the interview. Pohontsch et al. states in the article,
“Some of the abovementioned studies show a decline in students’ empathy during their medical
education” (233). Therefore, the use of students from different ages is important to the interview
research because medical students can face a downslope of empathy for their patients as they
extend their medical education. According to Pohontsch, et al., “Gender is also known to
influence empathy. Therefore we aimed to interview female and male students from their 6th
semester and those in their final year to maximize variations in the students’ accounts on
peoples empathy, gender is a huge factor in this research. For these reasons, the table is inserted
to appeal to the reader's logic. Pohontsch brilliantly placed this chart to claim his credibility by
demonstrating his interviewing variables, therefore the audience should trust these interviews
and results.
Next, Pohontsch uses ethos to claim credibility by claiming the credibility of the
constructors of research. For example, Pohontsch, et al. states, “NJP is a female trained
psychologist and post doctorate researcher with comprehensive experience in conducting focus
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groups and interviews as well as qualitative data analysis” (235). In the article, Pohontsch lists
the education of the interviewers to gain the trust of the readers. He has many different
interviewers with their own impressive educations and resumes. Not only is Pohontsch trying to
impress his readers, he got some of the best people to help him with this experiment. The
interviewers are all outstanding in the medical field, so they are trustworthy for their findings
throughout these interviews. Pohontsch is establishing his credibility by listing all of the
interviewers' education and qualifications, he makes them seem reliable. So, whenever the
readers see the results they will most likely trust the findings and conclusion of the experiment.
Lastly, Pohontsch uses pathos by using the medical students' working conditions to gain
sympathy from the audience. According to Pohontsch, et al., “Poor working conditions during
clinical internships, e.g. a high workload, a lot of overtime and the excessive expectations of
young professionals, but also an underload and doubts about the reasonableness of the health
care system can reduce empathic abilities” (236). As Pohontsch is trying to gain sympathy from
the audience, he uses the interviewees’ sad background as a way to get the readers' trust. By
making the audience feel bad for the interviewees, he declares his credibility because he
provokes the readers pity. For example, if a medical student with a difficult background has more
sympathy for patients than a medical student with a normal background, out of pity the readers
establishes his credibility by using logos by inserting tables and graphs, ethos by claiming the
credibility of the conductors of the research, and pathos by using the medical students' working
conditions to gain sympathy from the audience. According to Pohontsch, et al., “Some
longitudinal studies show a decrease in empathy throughout medical education and students
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suffering from burn-out symptoms show lower empathy scores.” Therefore, the results of this
research is that students who have spent a good amount of time in college have decreased
empathy for their patients. Also, medical students who are mentally exhausted and no longer
have motivation for school have declined empathy scores. After reading the peer reviewed
journal, the rhetorical situations in Pohontsch’s research are important because he wants his
audience’s trust. With the knowledge of the rhetorical situations, readers should read the article
and understand why he wants the trust of the readers and what information he is trying to spread.
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Work Cited
Exploratory Interview Study with Medical Students in Their Third and Last
Year.” BMC Medical Education, vol. 18, no. 1, 2018, pp. 231–239,
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-018-1335-7.