Relationship between Patient Centered Care, and Empathy among Nursing Students at Alexandria Technical Health Institute

Document Type : Research articles

Authors

1 Teacher in El-Gmhoria Institution of Nursing, - El-Gmhoria hospital, Alexandria

2 Nursing Administration Department, Faculty of Nursing ,Alexandria University

Abstract

Background: Empathy and patient-centered care have been associated with better patient 
outcomes. Active listening and self-awareness are suggested to be associated with empathy, and, in 
turn, patient-centered care. The concept of empathy has been a considerable subject of interest in 
students nursing research. PCC dimensions are critical for a Health Care Provider (HCP) to 
understand a patient’s experience, develop a therapeutic relationship with the patient, and deliver 
care based on this understanding. So, the delivery of PCC is critical for better patient outcomes 
such as safety, as well as patient values and needs. Objective: To determine the relationship between 
patient-centered care and empathy among nursing students at the Alexandria Technical Health 
Institute. Settings: The study was carried out at the Technical Health Institute that affiliated with the 
Ministry of Health and Population at Alexandria Governorate, Egypt. Subjects: A convenient 
sample of 300 Nursing Students who are in the fourth, and fifth years of technical nursing diploma 
at the previous mentioned setting. Tools: Four tools were used in this study Namely; The PatientPractitioner Orientation Scale (PPOS), Active-Empathic Listening Scale (AELS), SelfConsciousness Scale-Revised (SCS-R), and Kiersma Chen Empathy Scale (KCES). Results: The 
study showed that there was a significant positive correlation between PCC, active listening, selfawareness, and empty respectively (p=0.000, p=0.001, p=0.004). Conclusion: Improvement in 
active listening and self-awareness may lead to improvement in empathy, and, in turn, improvement 
in patient-centered care. Recommendations: nurse educators need to teach nursing students how to 
improve active listening and self-awareness to improve their levels of empathy.

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