Medical Librarian Covenant Health Center Lubbock, Texas
Objectives: This study sets out to determine whether reading examples of graphic medicine which depict patient/caregiver perspectives and experiences with illness can increase empathy levels in registered nurses in the acute care setting.
Background: Empathy is an essential trait in nursing yet it is one that can be negatively impacted for a variety of reasons, such as time in service, exposure, burnout, and compassion fatigue; however, the converse can also be true, in that burnout, compassion fatigue, etc. can affect nurses ability to show empathy. “Graphic Medicine” is defined as “the intersection between the medium of comics and the discourse of healthcare” on the graphicmedicine.org website. Multiple studies have been conducted to show that exposure to Graphic Medicine can increase empathy in medical students, residents, and physicians; however, very little research has been done with nurses.
Method: This mixed methods study will use a qualitative focus-group methodology to determine whether there is a change in empathy in registered nurses after three monthly book club type meetings using graphic medicine titles. A series of generic prompts will be available to aid in discussion. Comments will be categorized by theme. Investigators will measure the registered nurses’ empathy using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) scale (28 items on a 5-point Likert scale, with four subscales), both before and after reading the three books and participating in the focus-groups.
Results: This research project is still in the early stages, but the investigators hope to show a positive association between graphic medicine and nurse empathy.