The Impact of Nurses' Empathic Responses on Patients' Pain Management in Acute Care

BACKGROUND: Although nurses have the major responsibility for pain management, little is known about nurses' responses to patients in the process of managing acute pain. OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between nurses' empathic responses and their patients' pain intensity and analgesic administration after surgery. METHODS: Two hundred twenty-five patients from four cardiovascular units in three university-affiliated hospitals were interviewed on the third day after their initial, uncomplicated coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery about their pain and current pain management. Concurrently, their nurses' (n = 94) empathy and pain knowledge and beliefs were assessed. Patient data were aggregated and linked with the assigned nurse to form 80 nurse-patient pairs. RESULTS: Nurses were moderately empathic, and their responses did not significantly influence their patients' pain intensity or analgesia administered. Patients reported moderate to severe pain but received only 47% of their prescribed analgesia. Patients' perceptions of their nurse's attention to their pain were not positive, and empathy explained only 3% of variance in patients' pain intensity. Deficits in knowledge and misbeliefs about pain management were evident for nurses independent of empathy, and knowledge explained 7% of variance in analgesia administered. Hospital sites varied significantly in analgesic practices and pain inservice education for nurses. CONCLUSIONS: Empathy was not associated with patients' pain intensity or analgesic administration.