Compassion in nursing: Solution or stereotype?

Abstract

Compassion in healthcare has received significant attention recently, on an international scale, with concern raised about its absence during clinical interactions. As a concept, compassionate care has been linked to nursing. We examined historical discourse on this topic, to understand and situate current debates on compassionate care as a hallmark of high‐quality services. Documents we looked at illustrated how responsibility for delivering compassionate care cannot be consigned to individual nurses. Health professionals must have the right environmental circumstances to be able to provide and engage in compassionate interactions with patients and their relatives. Hence, although compassionate care has been presented as a straightforward solution when crisis faces health services, this discourse, especially in policy documents, has often failed to acknowledge the system‐level issues associated with its provision. This has resulted in simplistic presentations of ‘compassion’ as inexpensive and the responsibility of individual nurses, a misleading proposal that risks devaluing the energy and resources required to deliver compassionate care. It also overlooks the need for organisations, not just individuals, to be charged with upholding its provision.

Qualitative study on the causes and consequences of compassion fatigue from the perspective of nurses

“…Compassion is defined as identifying others’ suffering and taking action to eliminate, mitigate, or alleviate that suffering (Pérez‐Bret et al 2016; Tierney et al 2019). Compassion is actually a constructive response to the suffering of others, and it can improve responses to treatment, preserve the dignity of patients, and facilitate self‐care in the individuals who provide it (Brito‐Pons and Librada‐Flores, 2018b).…”

Determining the association of high‐commitment human resource practices with nurses’ compassionate care behaviour: A cross‐sectional investigation

“…Feeling, recognizing and relieving the suffering of those in pain are indicators of CC, and compassion is practiced when nurses work to understand patients’ distress and suffering and propose strategies to alleviate that suffering (Durkin, Usher, & Jackson, ; Younas & Maddigan, ). Moreover, Tierney, Bivins, and Seers () shows that compassion is an intrinsic nursing value but does not take into consideration the emotional and practical resources necessary for providing CC and overlooks the organisational and managerial role of the provision of CC at clinical sites.…”

From political correctness to reflexivity: A norm‐critical perspective on nursing education

“…Our discourse analysis expressed power, or lack of power, in various ways. From the first pattern, the construction of the normal is seemingly uncomplicated, bordering on a discourse that is typi- and self-sacrifice (Tierny, Bivins, & Seers, 2018). Nursing has been termed a normative discipline, referring to a practice that does not demand deep reflection and that is unconcerned with power (Dahlborg-Lyckhage, Brink, & Lindahl, 2018).…”