Importance Of Compassion In Healthcare

Guiding Commitments

Compassionate healthcare organizations reliably enable the attributes, abilities, behaviors and skills of compassionate individuals to flourish. The value and importance of compassion and compassionate care are embedded in the cultures of such organizations, modeled by their clinical and administrative leaders, and expressed in their policies, processes and governance. The overarching commitment is that individuals and the organizations, institutions and systems in which they work, must value compassionate care sufficiently to use it as a lens to sharpen their focus on providing high quality and humanistic care. The aim of the commitments that follow is to ensure that all clinicians and other care providers are able to provide compassionate care to all whose circumstances and need may call it forth.

1. Commitment to Strengthen Compassionate Healthcare Leadership

Healthcare leaders who embrace and model compassion foster cultures of compassionate care in their organizations and institutions. They articulate the value and benefits of compassionate care, motivate others by their example, marshal resources, provide training and a supportive infrastructure, and help others understand their role in relation to this common aim (10). They use tools to assess organizational climate and effectiveness in delivering compassionate care, and are committed to its continuous improvement (11).

Leaders at all levels within and across organizations and systems must engage in an open dialogue about the importance of compassion, educate others about how they foster an organizational culture of compassion, and create incentives around the shared purpose of providing compassionate, patient and family-centered care (12).

2. Com...

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...are (23), (24), (25), (26)).

It takes time for patients to share their concerns and seek information, for clinicians to listen and respond, and for both to collaboratively develop shared understanding and prevention and treatment plans (27). Yet the percentage of physicians indicating they no longer have enough time to meet their patients’ needs has increased significantly ((28), (29)).In part, this reflects the increasing number of tasks to be accomplished ((30), (31)).Physicians, feeling pressed for time or unprepared to manage their emotions, often overlook clues that might uncover the source of their patients’ distress ((32), (33)).

Those engaged in performance improvement and care redesign must prioritize, not minimize, personal interactions, and must support and reward the time required to respond to patients’ and families’ needs, concerns, and distress.