Chapter 1

Empathy
Empathy is defined as “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another” (Oxford Dictionary, 2021)
I am a great advocate for empathy in nursing as personally, I feel when nurses are empathetic, all the other personal and professional attributes will come naturally to them. When you have empathy as a
nurse, the patient’s pains and worries become your pains and worries.

You treat them us you would want yourself, your family, or loved ones to be treated. You go above and beyond the call of duty for them. In my opinion, empathy is not a skill that can be taught. Empathy comes naturally to some people and being unempathetic does not mean you are not fit to be a nurse or are in the wrong profession. On the other hand, being empathetic does not mean that you burden yourself with all your patient’s problems. No. It just means that you want to make their journeys through the healthcare system pain-free, harm-free, and as seamless as possible.

Empathetic nurses are compassionate and, therefore, respectful of other people’s beliefs, stories, boundaries, or wishes. It does not take extra effort by nurses to be empathetic. Showing empathy to your patient could
mean you giving the patient an extra blanket to keep them warm or giving a post-operative patient some pain relief before they even get to the stage when their pain might become too much.