Nursing Compassion: A Case Study

others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it.” My precept is that it lies at the heart of all

Sawbridge and Hewison (2015) believe that compassion is important to the delivery of patient care. However, professionals are working in environments that are increasingly targeted which can take the professionals away from delivering compassionate care (Baverstock and Finley 2016). This assignment aims to discuss how important and how realistic it is for health and social care leaders to balance compassion with effective and efficient service delivery. It aims to do this by exploring what is meant by the term compassion and the influence that it has on patient care. The author will then move on to discuss the impact compassion has on service delivery, considering if professionals need to balance compassion with effective and efficient care delivery including the if compassion is in fact required to deliver effective care.

Compassion is that feeling that motivates a person to help another human in need. Whether that need is an emotional, physical, or spiritual need. When caring for another human being, as nurses, we cannot help but feel that urge to help the person in front of us. We want to find the details that can

Respect is vital to any relationship because it provides a base for fair and unbiased treatment of one another. Without respect for the worth of each individual and his expertise it would be difficult to act as a team. Just as critical to the function of a team is integrity. Integrity ensures that the nurse is acting honestly and holds herself to both moral and professional standards. Responsibility is essential in all nursing practice, but is particularly necessary when integrating care with other disciplines and professionals. As the functions of a healthcare team become more individually specific, the ability rely on each person to perform her part is crucial. Finally, compassion is the framework for all nursing action. While it is widely accepted that compassion for patients is part of nursing, compassion for fellow professionals is necessary too. In conjunction with respect, compassion allows the team to function by accepting each individual’s specific perspective and acknowledging the importance of their skills.

When choosing to pursue a career in the health care field, most enter the workplace with the desire to help and provide care for patients who are critically ill (Lombardo & Eyre, 2011). Far too often, these health professionals who were once sympathetic and caring become victims of compassion fatigue (Lombardo & Eyre, 2011). As a working health professional it is ones duty to compassionately care for the sick, wounded and traumatized patients, which involves being exposed daily to the patient’s pain, suffering and trauma (Coetzee & Klopper, 2010). Experiencing this type of trauma first hand is an un-recognized side effect of being a health care professional (Briscoe, 2014). It is easy to get wrapped up in patients, their

Barbara Lazear Ascher writes a well formed essay on the concept of compassion. Compassion is something that we do for others out of the kindness of our hearts. She focuses more on the poor, just how we show them sympathy, why do we do such things. Is showing empathy from our hearts or just for them to go away. I enjoyed this essay due to the fact, that she gives humanistic reasons on why people are compassionate, she doesn’t sugar coat anything, and lastly she breaks down the compassion that she sees everyday.

52). Within the field of nursing compassion is a rare term, replaced by connotations like empathy, sympathy and caring. Using various sources Shantz cites the views –hers- on the translation of compassion, exactly what compassion is in the field of nursing and the relations or non-relations between words that are implied to be synonymous to compassion. Shantz demonstrates the issues of how nursing is identified by a word that is scarce in the environment of nursing. In short, with the introduction, review of literature, identification of a definition for compassion, related connotations and their differences, antecedents, critical attributes, consequences and a model case over the movie

Compassion is another valuable attribute of caring. Compassion is the sense of concern for others and their less than desirable situations. According to Perry (2009), compassion is the attention to minute details, generally exhibited in a face-to-face interaction with a patient/client (p. 18) and should be implemented when providing patient care and interventions. Attentiveness goes a long ways to enhance the well-being and quality of care provided to a patient/client. This in turn, establishes trust amongst a nurse/caregiver and a patient/client.

The current class has been very informative on nursing theories and it is the dream of every aspiring nursing student and registered nurses to provide compassionate care to the patients. Nurses have a role not only to offer physical care but to offer mental, spiritual and emotional support to patients as well. Patients with complex and frequently diverse needs must be given the full attention of the nurse based on their needs. Consistent research indicated the significant benefits which ensue when nurses offer compassionate care; however this is not always the case, especially among nurses which are involved in direct care of terminally ill patients and such nurses end up suffering from compassion fatigue, this is what Joinson (1992) described

Compassion and respect are essential attitudes for nursing practice. Compassion has been described as the “wounding of the heart” or a

Compassion is a crucial aspect of nursing; it involves seeing the patients as more than just a medical problem. Patients look to nurses as a source of comfort to help them deal with their emotions and understand their medical problems. In Norway, a study was conducted to find the role of compassion in nursing and

Healthcare providers are at increased risk for compassion fatigue (CF), which has also been called secondary traumatic stress, second hand shock syndrome, secondary stress reaction, and vicarious trauma (ABA, 2011). Compassion fatigue begins to become an issue when caregivers give too much of themselves to others and neglect to provide for their own needs. Neglecting one’s personal needs can be harmful, leading to destructive behaviors and patterns, such as over indulgence and increased sick calls. Over time the provider has a decreased ability to show compassion. This paper will discuss and describe compassion fatigue, warning signs of compassion fatigue, and discuss recovery options for those suffering from compassion fatigue.

Compassion is one of the fundamental characteristics implemented into patient care by health care providers. Compassion signifies “a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering” (Compassion, n.d.). Nurses and other health care providers provide selfless service, tireless dedication, compassion, and often neglect their personal needs, which

Compassion represents an “acknowledgement of another’s suffering and is accompanied by the expression of a desire to ease or end that suffering.” (Van der Cingal, 2009, p. 124) This is a fundamental characteristic usually found in health care workers and nurses especially. In one twelve hour shift, a nurse’s job can change from taking vitals and administering medications to performing life saving measures

Compassionate care is a big talking point right now in the media and within the healthcare sector with the Francis report being published earlier this year regarding the failings by Mid Staffordshire and Scotland are now waiting for their own report to be issued regarding the failings at the Vale of Leven in Dumbarton. The nursing and midwifery council have already started on some the imperative changes to be made that the Francis report issued. The chief executive of the nursing and midwifery council has said in her executive statement regarding the Francis report that they are to re-examine the current teaching that nurses receive and the professional standards. Smith, J. (Nursing and Midwifery Council) all of these failings are all relate d to compassionate care. The people who died in these hospitals were clearly not heard when they complained of feeling unwell and did not receive compassionate care so why was this? Next to be discussed is compassion fatigue and how this may reflect onto nursing practice in providing sufficient compassion.