{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,20]],"date-time":"2026-09-20T07:50:53Z","timestamp":1789890653362,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"2","funder":[{"name":"Committee of Quality and Supplementary Training (KEU) in the Central Denmark Region"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["BMJ Open"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2017,12,20]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2018,2]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Research has suggested that physicians\u2019 gut feelings are associated with parents\u2019 concerns for the well-being of their children. Gut feeling is particularly important in diagnosis of serious low-incidence diseases in primary care. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine whether empathy, that is, the ability to understand what another person is experiencing, relates to general practitioners\u2019 (GPs) use of gut feelings. Since empathy is associated with burn-out, we also examined whether the hypothesised influence of empathy on gut feeling use is dependent on level of burn-out.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Design<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Cross-sectional questionnaire survey. Participants completed the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy and The Maslach Burnout Inventory.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Setting<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Primary care.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Participants<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>588 active GPs in Central Denmark Region (response rate=70%).<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Primary outcome measures<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Self-reported use of gut feelings in clinical practice.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>GPs who scored in the highest quartile of the empathy scale had fourfold the odds of increased use of gut feelings compared with GPs in the lowest empathy quartile (OR 3.99, 95%\u2009CI 2.51 to 6.34) when adjusting for the influence of possible confounders. Burn-out was not statistically significantly associated with use of gut feelings (OR 1.29, 95%\u2009CI 0.90 to 1.83), and no significant interaction effects between empathy and burn-out were revealed.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Physician empathy, but not burn-out, was strongly associated with use of gut feelings in primary care. As preliminary results suggest that gut feelings have diagnostic value, these findings highlight the importance of incorporating empathy and interpersonal skills into medical training to increase sensitivity to patient concern and thereby increase the use and reliability of gut feeling.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjopen-2017-020007","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2018,2,28]],"date-time":"2018-02-28T10:56:05Z","timestamp":1519815365000},"page":"e020007","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":27,"title":["Empathy, burn-out and the use of gut feeling: a cross-sectional survey of Danish general practitioners"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"8","author":[{"given":"Anette Fischer","family":"Pedersen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Unit for General Practice and Research Centre for Cancer Diagnosis in Primary Care (CaP), Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mads Lind","family":"Ingeman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Emergency Department, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Peter","family":"Vedsted","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Unit for General Practice and Research Centre for Cancer Diagnosis in Primary Care (CaP), Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2018,2,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"2025121514441100000_8.2.e020007.1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1136\/bmj.e6144","article-title":"Clinicians' gut feeling about serious infections in children: observational study","volume":"345","author":"Van den Bruel","year":"2012","journal-title":"BMJ"},{"key":"2025121514441100000_8.2.e020007.2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjopen-2016-012511","article-title":"Determinants of general practitioner\u2019s cancer-related gut feelings-a prospective cohort study","volume":"6","author":"Donker","year":"2016","journal-title":"BMJ Open"},{"key":"2025121514441100000_8.2.e020007.3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3399\/bjgp14X680125"},{"key":"2025121514441100000_8.2.e020007.4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3399\/bjgp10X483175"},{"key":"2025121514441100000_8.2.e020007.5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"66,2296","DOI":"10.1186\/1471-2296-10-66","article-title":"Consensus on gut feelings in general practice","volume":"10","author":"Stolper","year":"2009","journal-title":"BMC Fam Pract"},{"key":"2025121514441100000_8.2.e020007.6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"17,2296-10","DOI":"10.1186\/1471-2296-10-17","article-title":"The diagnostic role of gut feelings in general practice. 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