Compassionate Care

Question 1

What is compassion?

Answer 1

Difficult to describe
Essentially an interaction where one person recognises and responds to the suffering of another person by giving emotional energy

Question 2

Explain the importance of compassionate care- what does it improve?

Answer 2

Improves:

• Patient Experience
• HCW experience/well-being & satisfaction
• Drug compliance
• Disease control
• Clinical outcomes
• Is the foundation for therapeutic (& other working) relationships
• Promotes stronger teams, reduces burn out & staff turn over, medical errors

Question 3

How is lack of compassion linked with disciplinary action?

Answer 3

Disciplinary action as a doctor:
Unprofessional Behaviour in Medical School Associated with Subsequent Disciplinary Action. e.g. Impaired relationships with students, or faculty, nurses or with patients & families

Question 4

What does compassion/compassionate environment feel like?

Answer 4

Connecting with someone
* Feeling like you are being listened to/cared for
* Feeling important, respected and understood
Basic needs are met (food, drink, sleep, pain reduction, cleanliness)

NOTE: Things that can’t be controlled must still be noticed and acknowledged as they still impact users/providers

Question 5

What behaviours demonstrate compassion?

Answer 5

Noticing someone: Make eye contact, smile/welcoming them, good manners, introducing yourself
Giving someone your time
Focussing on someone and their needs:
Asking about their situation w interest, listening
Responding to and asking Qs
Making them feel comfortable, checking they are OK

Question 6

Give the PERSONAL Challenges reported by students & healthcare professionals which affect compassion:

Answer 6

• Time pressures
• Feeling helpless
• Opening a ‘can of worms’
• ‘Making’ someone cry
• Not understanding the perspective of the other person
• Saying the wrong thing
• Sounding patronising
• Opposing beliefs or cultural constructs

Question 7

Give the SYSTEMIC Challenges reported by students & healthcare professionals which affect compassion:

Answer 7

Systemic

• Time
• Tired & overworked
• Shift patterns
• Under - resourced (££, PPE)
• Burnt - out

Question 8

What is flexible empathy?

Answer 8

Neuroscience shows that a focus on cognitive tasks blunts empathy, and vice versa
Learn to employ the mental functions accordingly E.g. resuscitation situation:

• Must think analytically to save a life
• Don’t let emotions cloud judgment or actions
• After the resuscitation:turn off the analytical and cognitive processes.
  Focus on compassion for relatives and patient

Question 9

How can we mitigate some threats to compassion?

Answer 9

Using patient-centred skills can help w eliciting the patients’ concerns to managing time.
Those who regularly empathise improve their own satisfaction and well-being, preventing burn-out

Crying is not necessarily a bad thing. People in distress tend to cry after feeling understood. Can be therapeutic and is often an expression of trust. We rarely ‘make’ someone cry; it is likely that they are already upset.

Question 10

How to monitor, maximise & maintain
Compassion?

Answer 10

Question 11

How do we measure and monitor compassionate care?

Answer 11

Schwartz Centre Compassionate Care Scale
valid, reliable, correlates with pt satisfaction