Barriers to Medical Compassion as a Function of Experience and Specialization: Psychiatry, Pediatrics, Internal Medicine, Surgery, and General Practice

Abstract

Documenting and investigating barriers to compassion in different speciality groups have the potential to broaden current foci beyond the physician and inform interventions aimed at enhancing medical compassion. In addition, certain aspects of the training or practice of psychiatry that enhance compassion may mitigate barriers to compassion in other specialities.

Healthcare providers’ perspectives on perceived barriers and facilitators of compassion: Results from a grounded theory study

“…Three foundational domains of compassion barriers and facilitators can be distilled from this disparate literature: personal (Barratt, ; Brown, Crawford, Gilbert, Gilbert, & Gale, ; Gale, Schroder, & Gilbert, ; Hem & Heggen, ; Jones, Winch, Strube, Mitchell, & Henderson, ; Roberts, Warner, Moutier, Geppert, & Green Hammond, ; Van Der Cingel, ), workplace/systems (Barron, Sloan, & Deery, ; Bray, O'Brien, Kirton, Zubairu, & Christiansen, ; Brown et al., ; Curtis, Horton, & Smith, ; Dewar & Mackay, ; Dewar & Nolan, ; Fernando & Consedine, ; Horsburgh & Ross, ; Jones et al., ; Lown, Rosen, & Marttila, ; Nolan, ; Smith, Gentleman, Loads, & Pullin, ) and relational barriers between HCPs and their patients (Fernando & Consedine, ; Jones et al., ; Vivino, Thompson, Hill, & Ladany, ). Insights into the personal domain are currently underdeveloped in comparison with the relational and workplace/systems domains.…”

“…In contrast, facilitators and barriers of compassion related to the workplace/system have received extensive attention and as a result are often considered to be the chief factor in facilitating or inhibiting HCPs’ ability to deliver compassionate care (Barron et al., ; Bray et al., ; Brown et al., ; Curtis et al., ; Dewar & Mackay, ; Dewar & Nolan, ; Fernando & Consedine, ; Horsburgh & Ross, ; Jones et al., ; Lown et al., ; Nolan, ; Smith et al., ). In particular, a positive workplace, where providers felt supported by their employers and from their co‐workers, was felt to facilitate compassionate care (Barron et al., ; Dewar & Mackay, ; Dewar & Nolan, ; Jones et al., ).…”

“…Additional workplace/system factors identified specifically by physicians were medical specialty and professional experience. One study described that general practitioners and Internal Medicine specialists, along with less experienced physicians, had more barriers to compassion compared to psychiatrists and more experienced doctors (Fernando & Consedine, ).…”

Creating a Culture of Health in Planning and Implementing Innovative Strategies Addressing Non-communicable Chronic Diseases

“…Compassion centers on the ability to understand the emotions of others combined with a desire to assist and promote their well-being (Perez-Bret et al, 2016;Sinclair et al, 2018). Although it is an important, albeit often overlooked element contributing to our culture of health, providing compassion in busy everyday practice let alone at the policy level is often a challenge in the face of competing for demands and compassion fatigue (Fernando and Consedine, 2017). Many factors contribute to this, but the capacity to deliver compassion in healthcare at the individual level can be enhanced through organizational support and education (Zamanzadeh et al, 2018).…”

The effect of emotional clarity and attention to emotion on job satisfaction: A mediating role of emotion regulation among Chinese medical staff

“…There are several reasons to believe that clarity contributes to the job satisfaction of medical staff. Medical staff often encounter complex clinical situations (e.g., the patient did not improve after treatment), difficult patient or family (e.g., patient has irrational beliefs about his or her condition and treatments; Fernando & Consedine, ), and various professional dilemmas (e.g., whether to tell a patient with a life‐threatening illness the truth; Begley, ). These challenging situations as affective events can arouse affective experiences and reactions, which may influence job satisfaction (Weiss & Cropanzano, ).…”