Nursing praxis, compassionate caring and interpersonal relations: An observational study

Abstract

The study supports the contribution made by emergency nurses and demonstrates how compassionate caring is central to nursing praxis. This paper also demonstrates that the CIN role utilises a complex mix between advanced clinical skills and compassion that supports interpersonal and therapeutic relationships. Further research is needed to understand how compassionate care can be optimised within nursing praxis and the duty of care between nurses and patients, nurses and other health care professionals so that future healthcare goals can be realised.

Embodying compassion: A systematic review of the views of nurses and patients

“…Communication is used by the nurse to understand the patient perspective (Dewar & Nolan, ; Way & Tracy, ) to find out what is happening with them (Curtis, ; van der Cingel, ) and build therapeutic relationships (Fry et al, ). Communication requires warmth (Dewar & Nolan, ; Horsburgh & Ross, ), professionalism (Kret, ) and curiosity on the part of the nurse to gather as much information as needed to help the patient (Dewar & Nolan, ).…”

Compassion: a critical review of peer‐reviewed nursing literature

“…Other authors also took account of action by compounding compassion with another term such as ‘compassionate practice’ (Curtis , p. 210) or ‘compassionate caring’ (Fry et al . , p. 37). Bradshaw () stated that ‘compassion is suffering together with another: more than an emotion or feeling it is a whole praxis’ (p. 466).…”

“…A body of work that is already referenced in the literature (Spandler & Stickley , Curtis , Fry et al . ) is that of Paul Gilbert (). He is a psychologist who has studied compassion extensively, and has developed a comprehensive framework for cultivating compassion that draws on neuroscience, evolutionary psychology and Buddhist thought.…”

Emotional Labour and Wellbeing: What Protects Nurses?

“…The provision of compassionate care is fundamental to the work of healthcare professionals, and has been found to be genuinely therapeutic for patients [2,3]. Although ratings of clinical competence by patients are typically based on a combination of experiential knowledge and technical skills [4], the quality of interpersonal relationships makes a strong contribution to judgements of overall satisfaction with healthcare experiences [5,6].…”