Can We Mandate Compassion?

Paterson, Ron

doi:10.1353/hcr.2011.0036

Cited by 52 publications

(52 citation statements)

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“…1,2 Clinicians, policymakers, patients, and their families are calling for healthcare providers to move beyond the delivery of services and to more explicitly consider the preferences, needs, and values of the persons receiving these services. 3–6 Within this discussion, the constructs “empathy,” “sympathy,” and “compassion” are important principles within these models of care. But what exactly do these three constructs mean within the context of healthcare delivery?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sympathy, empathy, and compassion: A grounded theory study of palliative care patients’ understandings, experiences, and preferences

et al. 2016

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Background:Compassion is considered an essential element in quality patient care. One of the conceptual challenges in healthcare literature is that compassion is often confused with sympathy and empathy. Studies comparing and contrasting patients’ perspectives of sympathy, empathy, and compassion are largely absent.Aim:The aim of this study was to investigate advanced cancer patients’ understandings, experiences, and preferences of “sympathy,” “empathy,” and “compassion” in order to develop conceptual clarity for future research and to inform clinical practice.Design:Data were collected via semi-structured interviews and then independently analyzed by the research team using the three stages and principles of Straussian grounded theory.Setting/participants:Data were collected from 53 advanced cancer inpatients in a large urban hospital.Results:Constructs of sympathy, empathy, and compassion contain distinct themes and sub-themes. Sympathy was described as an unwanted, pity-based response to a distressing situation, characterized by a lack of understanding and self-preservation of the observer. Empathy was experienced as an affective response that acknowledges and attempts to understand individual’s suffering through emotional resonance. Compassion enhanced the key facets of empathy while adding distinct features of being motivated by love, the altruistic role of the responder, action, and small, supererogatory acts of kindness. Patients reported that unlike sympathy, empathy and compassion were beneficial, with compassion being the most preferred and impactful.Conclusion:Although sympathy, empathy, and compassion are used interchangeably and frequently conflated in healthcare literature, patients distinguish and experience them uniquely. Understanding patients’ perspectives is important and can guide practice, policy reform, and future research.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sympathy, empathy, and compassion: A grounded theory study of palliative care patients’ understandings, experiences, and preferences

et al. 2016

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“…A recent systematic review of compassion in healthcare [5] identified compassion as a patient right [18], central to codes of ethics across healthcare professions [19][20][21], a practice competency that should be evaluated in selecting medical and nursing student admissions, [22,23], a standard of care that healthcare providers must be trained in and systems must measure and report [11,17,24] and a dimension of quality care that should be assessed on an ongoing basis [17,25]. Despite these efforts, there is persistent evidence that a lack of compassion is a key contributor to failures within healthcare systems [11,17,21,25,26] and that receiving compassionate healthcare remains an important but unmet patient need [8,10,11,14,17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring Compassion in Healthcare: A Comprehensive and Critical Review

Sinclair

Russell

Hack

et al. 2016

Patient

108

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Background: There is international concern about the lack of compassion in healthcare systems.A valid and reliable tool for measuring compassion in healthcare systems and educational institutions is required. This comprehensive and critical narrative synthesis identified and compared existing measures of compassionate care in clinical settings.Methods: PubMed, Medline, CINAHL and PsycINFO databases and grey literature were searched to identify studies that report information on instruments that measure compassion or compassionate care in clinicians, nurses, healthcare students and patients. Textual qualitative descriptions of included studies were prepared. Instruments were evaluated using the Evaluating

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“…The importance and necessity of receiving compassionate healthcare has received increased attention from the healthcare literature, healthcare policy, and professional organisations over the last decade (Sinclair et al., ; American Medical Association [AMA], ; Eva, Rosenfeld, Reiter, & Norman, ; Institute of Medicine, ; Department of Health, ; Paterson, ; Francis, ; MacLean, ). Patients and family members who perceive a lack of compassion in their healthcare encounters experience more adverse medical events, poor symptom management, and are more likely to lodge complaints and sue for malpractice.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%