Empathy in Wound Care: A Scoping Review

This review article presents a scoping review on the role of empathy in wound care, detailing its impact on patient outcomes and the barriers to its implementation. The objective of the review is to synthesize existing literature on empathy in wound care, emphasizing its contributions to person-centered healing. The authors conducted a systematic search across multiple databases, identifying 18 studies that met the inclusion criteria. The findings indicate that empathy is a fundamental element in wound care, improving treatment adherence, reducing psychological distress, and enhancing wound healing through both physiological and psychological mechanisms. However, the review also identifies systemic challenges such as time constraints, lack of training, and resource limitations that hinder the consistent application of empathy in clinical practice. The article calls for enhanced education and training for healthcare providers to integrate empathetic approaches into wound care, thereby improving patient management and outcomes.