The effects of an empathy role-playing program for operating room nursing students in Iran

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a role-playing training program conducted among operating room nursing students on empathetic communication with patients through measurements of empathy scores. Methods: This study was carried out among 77 operating room nursing students from the first to the fourth years studying at the School of Nursing and Midwifery of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in the academic year 2017-2018. The intervention administered to the experimental group included a 12-hour training program on expressing empathy to patients that incorporated roleplaying. The Jefferson Scale of Empathy-Health Profession Student version was completed by the participants before, immediately after, and 1 month after the intervention. A comparative analysis of these 3 time points was conducted. Results: No significant difference was found in the total pre-intervention mean empathy scores before the intervention between the control group and the experimental group (P=0.50). However, the total mean empathy scores in the experimental group immediately after and 1 month after the intervention were higher than those in the control group (P<0.001). Conclusion: Empathy training through a role-playing technique was effective at improving the empathy scores of operating room nursing students, and this finding also underscores the fact that empathy can be promoted by education. Changing the educational curriculum of operating room nursing students is suggested in order to familiarize them with the concept of empathy in the operating room.