Medical and nursing student numbers are expected to increase significantly in NZ over the next few years. The ethical, and professional and clinical skills' training of trainee health practitioners is a central and crucial component in medical and nursing education and is underpinned by a strong commitment to improve patient health and well being. In this discussion we reflect on the virtue of empathy and the importance of role modelling in the education of nurses and doctors. We endorse the claim that as medical educators, how and what we teach matters.