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Background It has been shown that empathy strengthens the relationship between patients and health professionals and also improves patient and health professional satisfaction, which helps promote the best clinical outcomes. Empathy is considered an essential prerequisite for a nurse to effectively care for a patient and for a holistic understanding of a patient's perspective in a student population. Objectives The main aim was to compare empathy levels between health professional students attending different university courses. Design A comparative study with a cross-sectional approach was conducted in two successive academic year cohorts of 1st year health professional students at a public Italian university. Participants and Methods A sample of 1st year health professional students at a public Italian university was investigated using the Jefferson Scale of Empathy Health Professional Students version (JSE-HPS). Results Overall, 502 health professional students were included in the study. The students in nursing showed significantly higher empathy levels than the students in other health professions. Furthermore, the female students were found to exhibit significantly more overall empathy than the male students were. Conclusions The undergraduate nursing students showed a significantly higher mean score of empathy measured by the Jefferson Scale of Empathy Health Professional Students version (JSE-HPS) than the students attending other health undergraduate courses. This could mean that a particular aptitude in establishing a help-relationship with other people exists among the students that choose to become a nurse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]