Empathy In Nursing: The Role Of A Nurse

Nursing is a complex idea, one that revolves around being able to communicate appropriately while maintaining professionalism. Becoming a nurse requires the ability to be a cognitive thinker as well as patient and empathic. You must have a curious mind as well as a firm hand and know your limits on all of these aspects. The role of a nurse often revolves around caring for a patient, and ensuring that they are looked after in a timely fashion, although this only scrapes the surface. Even though individuals respond different to specific communication styles, respectable communication will lead to a strengthening of relationships when linked with empathic skills. Empathy and being able to relate to a client, while exploring your non-judgmental

When using empathy with a client, the nurse is able to step into their shoes and understand what they are going through, essentially feeling what they feel (Barkin, 2011, as cited in Davies, 2014, p. 198). Ward et al., (2012) found that being able to communicate on the same platform as your client, meaning to place yourself in the same mindset as them is critically important to create a foundation of reliance (as cited in Davis, 2014, p. 198). Research by Davies (2014) found that embracing the empathic method not only requires you to venture into the mind of your client, but it also necessitates the ability to slide your own personal thoughts and emotions out of the way and dedicate all focus on the individual before you (p. 201). These thoughts expressed by each author, encircle what I already find to be most valuable in a nurse. Acquiring the skills to push your own feelings aside, with emphasis added on not being judgmental is very crucial to building a healthy relationship with your

420). Where in each situation I encountered, many conversations had passed before I developed the ability to communicate appropriately; it is essential to also anticipate what will happen and build off of that so initial communication is more insightful. Jasmine (2009) found that each individual’s insights and understandings of a situation could directly affect the capacity in which they respond to a certain type of care or how a nurse delivers that type of care. How an individual perceives what is happening in their surroundings or what they have learned through health promotion will affect the level of care they are seeking and in turn help the nurse to anticipate the result of the method they used (p. 420). Jasmine (2009) also stated that in addition to the virtuosity behind nursing, it is also valuable to look at the science and know that it is important to understand the cognitive thinking that goes into the practice. A nurse must be able to use their knowledge base to develop objective information about the client as well as interpret the subjective information that is divulged by the client (p. 240). Jasmine has contrasting opinions to those that I stated, where she finds that technical ability is just as important as drawing on personal experiences to relate with the client. I whole heartedly agree with everything