Nurses' Empathy in Different Wards: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Healthcare Research
• Psychology

Background:

• Empathy is crucial for effective nurse-client relationships and patient care.
• Previous research indicates varying empathy levels among nurses in different specialties.
• This study investigates empathy in critical care, psychiatric, and emergency nursing settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the empathy levels of nurses across critical care, psychiatric, and emergency units.
• To identify factors influencing nurses' empathy in these diverse clinical environments.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving 112 nurses from three educational hospitals.
• Data collected via sociodemographic questionnaire and the Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE).
• Statistical analysis included descriptive statistics, multiple regression, and SPSS version 16.

Main Results:

• The mean empathy score for nurses was above average, with scores of 87.51 (SD 6.65) in critical care, 87.59 (SD 4.90) in emergency, and 90.71 (SD 7.12) in psychiatric wards.
• Work experience was identified as a significant predictor of empathy (β = 0.19, p = 0.04).
• Work experience explained 3.50% of the variance in nurses' empathy scores.

Conclusions:

• Nurses in critical care, psychiatric, and emergency wards exhibit above-average empathy.
• Empathy scores were comparable across the studied nursing specialities.
• Interventional strategies aimed at enhancing nurses' empathy are recommended for future research and practice.