Empathy: An Interactive and Reciprocal Process-A Focused Ethnographic Study

Empathy is fundamental to patient-centered care and central to nurse-patient interactions in the ICU. Empathy has been studied as an intrapersonal process, with much less emphasis on its interpersonal processes. This article reports findings from a larger ethnographic study to 'explain the culture of empathic care among intensive care nurses,' with a focus on the significant themes of intrapersonal and interpersonal consequences of empathy.

This focused ethnographic study was conducted in the cardiac surgical intensive care unit of a hospital in Tehran. Purposive sampling was used to select nurses, patients, companions, and others involved in service delivery. Three methods were used to collect data: observation, interviews, and review of existing literature to supplement the information. Qualitative data analysis software, MAXQDA version 11, was used for data coding and the Roper and Shapira (2000) framework for analysis.

The cultural model "empathy, an interactive and reciprocal process" was extracted from the data analysis, which had 2 contents: "intrapersonal consequences of empathy in nurses" and "interpersonal consequences of empathy".

Empathy is important for both patients and caregivers. It is a 2-way process and the study of empathy needs to take into account the experiences and perceptions of both caregivers and patients. The results showed that empathy grows over time. This leads to patient/caregiver satisfaction and improved clinical outcomes. It provides a framework for managers and decision makers.