[Empathy in nursing care--its dimensions and impact on cancer patients].

As part of their professional activity nurses have to perform emotional and relationship-related work. Without doubt the ability to show empathy is a fundamental requirement to acting in a helpful way. Based on neuropsychological knowledge, in this article it is investigated to what extent it is possible for nurses to understand life of a cancer patient with the help of empathetic behaviour in order to honour it accordingly and influence it positively. Different forms of empathy are introduced, and they are discussed regarding their usefulness for development of empathetic competence in nursing.