PMID: 21121451 Abstract This article examines the reasons why empathy and compassion have become so highly politicised. Understanding what influences these new initiatives is important as it can help to identify those with vested interests in their success. The portrayal of empathy in nursing literature appears to differ from its portrayal within counselling literature, with the concept of empathy separated from the core conditions of congruence and unconditional positive regard, thereby presenting it as a ‘tool’. As the ‘expert’ professional with specialised knowledge, nurses have a considerable influence on their patients. Stenhouse R, Ion R, Roxburgh M, Devitt PF, Smith SD. This is a good example of the conflicting agendas which are present in the healthcare environment and nurses need to be extremely careful that their relationships with patients are free from prejudice. However, a more troubling disagreement underlies these debates: There's no consensus on how to define empathy. HHS It appears the nature of empathy, as conceptualised by the nursing profession, allows the nurse to maintain a professional and intellectual objectivity as there is no commitment to enter into the other person’s suffering only to understand. Before the psychologist Edward Titchener (1867–1927) introducedthe term “empathy” in 1909 into the English language asthe translation of the German term “Einfühlung” (or“feeling into”), “sympathy”was the termcommonly used to refer to empathy-related phenomena. Within counselling literature, empathy is defined as having the capacity to identify and understand another individual’s emotions and feelings. This work has influenced the concept of patient-centred care which emerged from discourses of the ‘self’ in the 1960s. The author has disclosed that she has no significant relationships with, or financial interest in, any commercial companies pertaining to this article. This raised awareness of the importance of dignity and is accompanied by a number of tool kits that have been widely used in practice (DH, 2009). To do this, I will be exploring the concept of empathy from a psychological perspective as well as the nursing perspective. Then I will discuss how this concept applies to my care scenario and how it relates to professional caring in nursing. This does not suggest that nurses deliberately exploit their patients but the environment that they work in makes demands on how this information is used and raises the question: What do we do with personal information? Effective communication is central to the provision of compassionate, high-quality nursing care in all disciplines, including aesthetic medicine. Some of the influences on the such discussion include: government policy, the requirements of statutory nursing regulatory bodies and recent initiatives which promote the ‘centrality of compassion in nursing’ (Cornwell and Goodrich, 2009). This means that we should clarify with our patients whether they wish to have their innermost feelings and personal logic documented or shared with the health care team. Visit our. Engaging patients with empathy can lead to a better doctor/patient and nurse/patient relationship. National Center for Biotechnology Information, Unable to load your collection due to an error, Unable to load your delegates due to an error. Some of the ways that nurses influence their patients is demonstrated by Lawrence et al (2010) who identified that nurses and patients families select interventions aimed at ‘promoting, improving and sustaining behaviour’ following stroke. 2016 Apr;39:12-5. doi: 10.1016/j.nedt.2016.01.019. The Social Care Institute for Excellence, in partnership with the Department of Health, developed a practice guide for promoting dignity in health and social care settings (SCIE, 2006). Patient ’ s suffering ( Schantz, 2007 ) formative years by attitudes! 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