Compassionate care

Working in healthcare is challenging

Healthcare staff work in an environment where untreatable and terminal illness, disfigurement, suffering, and the pain of loss for patients and families can result in staff distancing themselves as a means of self-protection, which makes it more difficult to feel and show compassion

Professionals are trained to be emotionally detatched from their patients

Professional training emphasises the importance of developing an ability to detach oneself from the patient’s distress and personal circumstances

Stress and burnout limit compassion

Stress, and at its extreme, burnout, produces a lowered sense of personal effectiveness, emotional exhaustion, and depersonalisation of others which can limit compassion, and at its most extreme cause cruelty towards patients.

Support from colleagues boosts compassionate care

There is agreement that role modelling by colleagues is a powerful way of learning how to behave compassionately.

Reflective practice supports compassionate care

Staff who use reflective practice, such as Schwartz Rounds, find it easier to provide compassionate care

Good teamwork enables compassionate care