Empathy in nurses: Spanish adaptation of the Jefferson scale of empathy (JSE) on nurses.

: Empathy is a key skill for nurses for providing high-quality care. : To adapt and explore the psychometric properties of the Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE) for nursing students in a sample of Spanish nurses, to analyse the empathy levels and to provide some percentiles for interpreting empathy levels. : Factor structure was evaluated with exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (EFA, CFA), and reliability was evaluated with Cronbach's alpha, composite reliability (CR), and average variance extracted (AVE) in a convenience sample of 500 Spanish nurses. : The definitive model composed of 15 items grouped into three factors presented good psychometric properties. Levels of empathy in the sample can be considered high. : The study provides a reliable and valid instrument to measure levels of empathy in nurses in the Spanish context. : The instrument is suitable for assessing educational needs, and evaluating the effectiveness of training programmes.