Abstract: Background　Empathy serves as the cornerstone of humanistic care in outpatient volunteer services, yet it is currently undervalued by most medical institutions, directly impacting the quality and standard of volunteer services.Objective　To investigate the current status of empathy ability among outpatient volunteers in tertiary general hospitals and explore ways to enhance their empathy ability.Methods　Through a mixed-methods study, a questionnaire survey was conducted using a general information survey form and the Chinese version of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index on 201 outpatient volunteer service providers from 15 tertiary general hospitals in Beijing. Among them, 10 volunteer service providers were selected for semi-structured interviews, and Colaizzi's seven-step analysis method was used to analyze the interview data.Results　The total score of empathy ability among outpatient volunteer service providers was (55.69 ± 10.19), indicating a moderate level. A total of 4 themes were extracted from the qualitative interview: the motivation of outpatient volunteer service providers to participate in service is a combination of altruism and self-interest, volunteering practice is an effective way to enhance empathy, ethical conflict is the bottleneck of outpatient volunteering practice, and it is influenced by both internal and external factors.Conclusion　The empathy ability of outpatient volunteer service providers is at a moderate level. Medical institutions can continuously improve the empathy ability of volunteer service providers by further improving the long-term mechanism of volunteer service management, strengthening relevant knowledge training, and paying attention to volunteer cognitive empathy and self-regulation ability, thereby menhancing the quality and level of volunteer service.