Teaching empathy to undergraduate medical students using a temporary tattoo simulating psoriasis

BackgroundPsoriasis has a profound negative effect on quality of life that is often underappreciated by health care professionals and the public.ObjectiveWe sought to assess the perception of the burden of psoriasis relative to other medical conditions in first-year medical students, and to determine if wearing a temporary tattoo simulating psoriasis during a teaching exercise would change their perceptions.MethodsParticipants completed a questionnaire assessing their perception of the impact of psoriasis and other common medical conditions (visual analog scale). Participants then wore a temporary tattoo of a psoriatic lesion for 24 hours and completed the same questionnaire after this exercise.ResultsOf 91 students approached, 61 completed the study. At baseline, psoriasis (mean = 23.6) and eczema (mean = 23.3) were perceived as having the lowest physical burden of diseases queried (P < .0001), whereas the mental impact of psoriasis was scored comparably with arthritis, heart disease, and diabetes (mean = 45.1-56.7), but lower than cancer (mean = 82.2) and depression (mean = 93.8). After the exercise, the perception of the impact of eczema (physical: mean = 37.3, P < .0001; mental: mean = 66.6, P = .0005) and psoriasis (physical: mean = 37.8, P = .0014; mental: mean = 68.6, P = .0293) was significantly increased.LimitationsThe exercise did not simulate the chronic nature of psoriasis or the scaling and pruritic characteristics of psoriatic lesions. The survey instrument used to assess empathy has not been previously validated and statistical analysis was limited by small sample size and the absence of a control group.ConclusionsTemporary tattoos are a novel and effective method of teaching medical students about the psychological burden of psoriasis.