The role of empathic nursing telephone interventions with advanced cancer patients: A qualitative study.
I Torres-Vigil, M Z Cohen, R M Million and 1 others
PMID 33246247WHAT IT FOUND
Nurse telephone calls to advanced cancer patients centred on empathy.
Nurses listened, validated, used humor, and helped solve problems after assessing symptoms.
Key findings
01Nurse telephone calls to advanced cancer patients were centred on supporting patients with empathy.
02The empathy themes were understanding patients’ experiences, communicating that understanding through humor and validation, and acting through problem solving and support.
03The authors could not determine whether empathy influenced symptoms or infer causality.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
This was a descriptive qualitative study of call content, not a trial of empathy training or telephone intervention effectiveness. The authors say they could not determine whether empathy influenced symptoms or infer causality. The analysed transcripts were 8 years old. The calls happened in a study where patients also received methylphenidate or placebo and control telephone calls, so the nurse call cannot be separated from those components. The study did not use a conceptual framework and did not test mechanisms through which empathy might affect outcomes.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that empathic nurse telephone calls improved symptoms. The calls occurred with methylphenidate or placebo and control telephone calls, and this paper analysed call content only; the authors say they cannot determine whether empathy influenced symptoms or infer causality.