Definition Empathy In Nursing

Within the nurse patient relationship empathy is conceptualised as having therapeutic value and as such is promoted to nurses as being desirable mccabe 2004.

Definition empathy in nursing. Types of empathy include cognitive empathy emotional or affective empathy and somatic empathy. Empathy and nursing practice. Empathy has two distinct components. Nowadays empathy is considered as an effective skill for communication that is useful for both the health care worker and the client ioannidou konstantikaki 2008 p 118.

Empathy involves ability. Empathy em pah the intellectual and emotional awareness and understanding of another person s thoughts feelings and behavior even those that are distressing and disturbing. The definition of empathy has changed significantly from the original definition which dates back to the 1880 s when german psychologist theodore lipps used the term einfuhlung or in feelings to described the emotional appreciation of another s feelings ioannidou 2008. Emotional empathy which involves feeling the emotions of another and cognitive empathy which relates to self regulation of the emotion felt.

Otherwise known as bedside manner practicing empathy can be challenging at first especially when you have so many other demands that need to be met throughout the day. Sympathy emphasizes sharing of another person s feelings and experiences. Empathy is the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within their frame of reference that is the capacity to place oneself in another s position. It is important because empathy produces insight into an patient s experience and coping with illness.

Empathy has been discussed as a basic component of effective nursing practice since the 1960s. But in reality as many nurses know these two words mean very different emotions. These insights facilitate the nurse s diagnostic accuracy problem solving and care becomes more patient centered. Within nursing literature empathy appears to be valued as a concept to be used alone rather than within a relationship containing all the core conditions.

Miller keane encyclopedia and dictionary of medicine nursing and. The purpose of this literature review is to examine the relationship between burnout and empathy in the nursing literature. Definitions of empathy encompass a broad range of emotional states. The study of empathy in nursing quite often used the concept formulated by neuman team and a definition of empathy coined by mercer and reynolds resulting from the concept.

Empathy in nursing is a newer concept. One afternoon in nursing school i remember a professor spending nearly an hour exploring the difference between sympathy and empathy. To me the inexperienced novice those words were the same synonyms surely both meaning some form of caring.