A study of the effect of clinical experience on nursing empathy

This study investigated the effect of length of nursing experience as it related to the self-reported emotional empathy levels of fourth year BSN nursing students as compared to more experienced Registered Nurses. The research further investigated why empathy may appear to differ between new nurses and more experienced nurses. The Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE) was utilized to assess empathy in all nurses in this study. Following completion of the questionnaire, a qualitative interview was conducted with six nurses to further examine their personal perspectives as they may have related to the JSPE. It was expected that length of nursing experience would be related to a reduction in nursing empathy.