Nurse: Empathy Heals Is the Documentary the Healthcare System Needs Right Now

There is a moment in nursing that nurses often carry quietly. The moment when the hospital doors close behind you and there is nothing between you and everything you just witnessed. A new documentary is finally asking them to put that weight down long enough to be heard.

Nurse: Empathy Heals, directed by Tennessee-based filmmaker Chusy of Plan A Films, shares personal stories of nursing during the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters, as well as the everyday emotional realities of patient care — honoring the resilience, humanity, and strength that define the profession. Its official trailer debuted this week during National Nurses Week 2026, and for nurses who have spent years feeling unseen by the public, it lands like something long overdue.

Allison Myers, Executive Director of ETSU Research Corporation’s StoryCollab, put it simply at the film’s January premiere at the ETSU Martin Center for the Arts: “This film is dedicated to nursing. We really feel like nurses are everyday heroes. We often don’t listen to their stories or really sometimes think about what they’re carrying. Just like all of us, they come in and they’re there for people, but they’re also carrying heavy stories, and they carry them home.”

The film does not flinch from that weight. Through deeply personal stories, it captures moments of doubt, faith, grief, joy, and fierce love — compassion stretched to its edges, and the catharsis that comes from finally being heard.

At a time when the profession continues to face burnout, workforce strain, and ongoing frontline crises, the film brings urgent visibility to the human cost of caregiving and the power of empathy in sustaining those who provide it.

The timing is not accidental. “The healthcare workforce crisis is a call to better support the people who make care possible,” said Alan Levine, CEO of Ballad Health and the film’s executive producer. “We must recognize the emotional weight nurses carry every day and the empathy that keeps them showing up for their patients and one another. Nurse: Empathy Heals tells those stories with honesty and bravery. Nurses are the heart of the healthcare team, and their wellbeing has to be at the center of how we sustain this profession.”

The film is not just a tribute — it is an argument. Research cited by the Nurse Narratives Initiative shows that integrating empathy training into nursing programs leads to measurable benefits for both patients and nurses. Patients experience improved mental health, shorter hospital stays, better recovery, and lower blood pressure. For nurses, empathy training helps them reflect on their purpose, improve their own mental health, and develop the kind of reflective practice that protects them from the accumulated weight of the work. 

“Empathy is at the center of ETSU’s educational philosophy, and it is a skill that can be developed and strengthened,” said Dr. Dena Evans, Dean of the ETSU College of Nursing. “When paired with professional expertise, higher levels of empathy significantly elevate the quality of care while simultaneously benefiting the caregivers themselves.”

>>Listen to The Latest Nurse News Podcast

Nurse: Empathy Heals is part of the Nurse Narratives Initiative, a collaboration led by East Tennessee State University that brings together ETSU’s StoryCollab, College of Nursing, Tennessee Center for Nursing Advancement, and the ETSU Research Corporation, with support from Ballad Health. The initiative uses first-person storytelling to elevate empathy, strengthen resilience, and improve patient outcomes across the healthcare system.

In the initiative’s model, nurses, nursing students, faculty, and patients participate in reflective workshops to tell their stories. Critically, the storytellers own the rights to their own stories — a structural choice that prioritizes authenticity and autonomy over institutional messaging. The full collection of digital stories from the initiative is available on YouTube.

ETSU’s College of Nursing is actively working to integrate empathy training into its existing nursing courses — using the lessons of the film not just as inspiration but as curriculum.

The documentary was created by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Chusy of Plan A Films and will screen at select film festivals nationwide in advance of its digital streaming release this fall. 

“Nurses show up every day, bringing a level of courage and compassion that is almost superhuman,” said Dr. Jennifer Hitt, Executive Director of the Tennessee Center for Nursing Advancement at ETSU. “Through this film and the many other stories collected through the Nurse Narratives Initiative, we hope to not only advance empathy in the healthcare profession, but to honor and support our nurses by making their voices heard.”

The film is coming this fall. But the stories it tells have been waiting a long time to be seen.

If you have a nursing news story that deserves to be heard, we want to amplify it to our massive community of millions of nurses! Get your story in front of Nurse.org Editors now – click here to fill out our quick submission form today!