The Therapeutic Relationship Between Healthcare Professionals and Hemodialysis Patients. Do the Health Care Professionals Put Themselves in Their Patients’ Shoes?

Aim of the Study: The aim of the study was to investigate and to compare the perceptions of empathy in the therapeutic relationship between Healthcare Professionals (HCPs) (nurses, nephrologists and residents’ nephrologists) and Hemodialysis Patients (HD). Patients and Methods: In the study were enrolled 148 HD patients (n=148) and 116 healthcare professionals (n=76 nurses, n=23 nephrologists, 17=residents). The diagnostic survey methodology was employed, utilizing two questionnaires the “Therapeutic relationship Questionnaire for HD and kidney transplanted patient (TRQ-P33) and the “Therapeutic relationship Questionnaire for Health Care Professionals” (TRQ-HCP16) developed by the researcher as the primary tool for data collection. For the needs to this study, the “Interpersonal Skills Questionnaire (ISQ)” was translated in Greek and incorporated into the patients’ questionnaire to measure the interpersonal relationship doctor- patient. Statistical Analysis: Data were collected and arranged at Excel sheet of Microsoft Excel version Microsoft 365. The statistical analysis was conducted by IBM-SPSS version 25 (SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA) and R statistical package. Results: This analysis revealed significant discrepancies between healthcare providers’ self-perceptions and patients’ perceptions, underscoring critical gaps in perceived empathy in the therapeutic relation between patients and healthcare professionals. Nurses believe that they put themselves in their patients’ shoes (79.43%) more than HD patients (73.68%) feel their nurses are doing this. The most significant discrepancies noted in the “Strongly Agree” category (p=0.021929 for nurses and p=0.100559 for HD patients). Regarding, the nephrologists believe that they put themselves in HD patients’ shoes (73.90%) less than HD patients believe (86.48%) as the most significant discrepancies observed in the “Disagree” category (p= 0.004537 for nephrologists and p= 0.263207 for HD patients). Also, must be mentioned that 13.04% of nephrologists disagreed, compared to 1.35% of patients as well as neither no patient nor nephrologists strongly disagree. Finally, about the 88.11% of the residents believe that put themselves in their patients’ shoes more than HD patients (79.71%) feel their residents are doing this. The most significant discrepancies noted in the “Disagree” category (p= 0.213966 for residents and p= 0.67362 for patients). Conclusion: Based on the findings, the study concludes that there are notable differences in perceptions of empathy in the therapeutic relationship between Healthcare Professionals (HCPs) and Hemodialysis (HD) patients. While healthcare providers generally believe they demonstrate empathy early and consistently, patients may not always perceive this to the same extent. Keywords: Therapeutic relationship; Empathy; Hemodialysis; Healthcare professionals