Compassionate nursing care

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Compassionate nursing care

Definition

One definition of compassion is a ‘deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it’ (The Free Dictionary 2014).
The Oxford English Dictionary (2014) refers to the Latin origins of compassion, ‘compati’, meaning ‘suffer with’. Peters (2006) defines compassion as ‘a deep feeling of connectedness with the experience of human suffering that requires personal knowing of the suffering of others’ and results in caring that comforts the sufferer.
Compassionate care is also defined as ‘a relational activity that is concerned with the way in which we relate to other human beings when they are vulnerable’ (Dewar et al 2011).
The varied definitions and understanding of what compassion is, highlights the challenges of demonstrating this complex connection with another person in nursing practice. If nurses had a deep awareness of the suffering of every individual they cared for, they could easily become overwhelmed and find it almost impossible to function within a professional role.
  • Empathy is perhaps a more realistic way of showing we appreciate and care about the experiences of patients as they cope with difficult diagnoses, treatments, symptoms of ill health and life-limiting illness.
  • Empathy verbalised by one person to another can offer support and comfort at times of vulnerability, anxiety and distress.
  • Empathy can be described as the ability to set aside your own thoughts and feelings. This may sound easy, but in practice nurses often have an overpowering desire to offer a solution, information or reassurance to patients and relatives. The desire to help or alleviate distress can dominate the thoughts and feelings of any healthcare professional. The act of setting aside personal thoughts and feelings enables active listening to take place.
  • Empathy means being willing to try to perceive the world as it is for the other person. Being willing to view the world of someone who is experiencing a high level of distress takes courage and bravery.
  • Empathy is conveyed by expressing appreciation of the other person’s situation and feelings (Mearns and Thorne 2007).
learningpoints

Learning points

  1. Verbalised empathy offers support and comfort at times of vulnerability, anxiety and distress.
  2. Empathy can be described as the ability to set aside your own thoughts and feelings. The act of setting aside personal thoughts and feelings enables active listening to take place.
  3. Empathy means being willing to try to perceive the world as it is for the other person. It is conveyed by expressing appreciation of the other person’s situation and feelings.

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