Interpersonal trust and empathy in nurse-nurse relationships

The specific purpose of a study that examined interpersonal communication in ongoing nurse-nurse dyads was to ascertain the nature of the relationship between interpersonal trust and empathy in nurse-nurse interaction. Analysis of questionnaire data collected from a sample of 36 diploma school nursing instructors indicated slight correlations between specific trust and general trust and between general trust and empathy. A strong negative correlation was found between specific trust and empathy. Discussion centered on an explanation for the inverse relationship between specific trust and empathy and a proposed model for how trust functions in ongoing nurse-nurse dyads.