A novice nurse asks, "What is so wrong about being sympathetic with a patient who has also lost a parent like I did?" The psychiatric nurse manager responds:
a. "There is a fine line between empathy and sympathy that when crossed makes you less able to be therapeutic."
b. "Rather than discussing the loss of your parent with the patient, you can talk to me about it whenever you need to."
c. "I'll provide you with some excellent materials that I'm sure will help you to un-derstand why sympathy is less therapeutic."
d. "Sympathy indicates that you are sharing your personal feelings and that changes the focus of the communication from the patient to you."
ANS: D
Empathy should not be confused with sympathy. Sympathy is overinvolvement and sharing your own feelings after hearing about another person's similar experience. It is not objective, and its primary purpose is to decrease one's own personal distress. Although substituting sympathy for empathy does lessen the ability to be therapeutic, that is not the best explana-tion for avoiding it. Offering to discuss the nurse's loss is a kind gesture but does not address the nurse's question. Providing materials on the subject would be an appropriate reinforce-ment but does not address the question well.
You might also like to view...
A client just underwent a keratoplasty. Which activity does the nurse suggest that the client begin possibly 1 week after surgery?
a. Continue with salsa dance lessons. b. Jog only one-half mile versus the usual 2 miles. c. Return to employment as a receptionist. d. Help the family move furniture from room to room.
Researchers often undertake preliminary analyses to assess biases. What type of bias should nurse researchers check for when there are multiple points of data collection?
A) Nonresponse B) Volunteer C) Selection D) Attrition
An adolescent patient is admitted after ingesting 20 500 mg acetaminophen (Tylenol) tablets as a suicide attempt. The patient is currently nauseated, vomiting, and diaphoretic with a BP of 96/52
What will be the priority in this patient's care? 1. Have a serum acetaminophen level drawn. 2. Observe for possible urticaria and bronchospasms. 3. Provide the first oral dose of acetylcysteine (Mucomyst) in orange juice. 4. Start an intravenous access line for rehydration.
The supervising nurse is observing several different nurses. Which action will cause the supervising nurse to intervene?
a. A nurse administers a vaccine without aspirating. b. A nurse gives an IV medication through a 22-gauge IV needle without blood return. c. A nurse draws up the NPH insulin first when mixing a short-acting and intermediate-acting insulin. d. A nurse calls the health care provider for a patient with nasogastric suction and orders for oral meds.