Objective　To investigate the empathy levels of medical students in a military medical university and explore the influencing factors. Methods　Self-developed demographic information questionnaire

Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSPE-S)

Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI)

and Chinese Perceived Stress Scale (CPSS) were used to collect data from June to October 2016. Medical undergraduate students were conveniently enrolled in the survey. SPSS 17.0 software was used for statistical analysis. T test

ANOVA

and chi-square test or Fisher exact test were used to compare the data of different categories of students. Results　A total of 683 questionnaires were distributed and 594 valid questionnaires were returned

with a valid response rate of 86.97%. Students had an above-average level of medical empathy with JSPE-S score as (104.11±19.66)

and IRI score was (51.63±10.08). There was a statically difference on level of medical empathy between groups of students with different genders

specialties

professional satisfaction

future career desire

and relative courses learning experience (P<0.05 for all). Medical empathy was significantly negatively correlated with perceived stress (r=-0.392

P=0.000) and significantly positively correlated with perceived stress (r=0.298

P=0.000). Conclusion　Targeted strategies should be conducted to improve the empathy levels of students in the military medical university.