Compassion [kuhm–pash-uhn] noun
A feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.

Compassion Corner is a new weekly series from Patient Worthy that will focus on the subject of compassion in the healthcare and rare disease space. In this series, we explore the role of compassion in this field and what it means for caregivers, patients, and others.

Compassion: The Heart of Nursing Care

The goal of the study was to identify barriers to compassionate care confronting clinical care nurses. Nurses are generally trained to focus on routines rather than compassionate care.

The National Institute of Health (NIH) published the results of this extensive study which was conducted in Iran.

The study took place between June 2014 and April 2016 at ten surgical and medical wards of two hospitals. Forty nurses participated along with sixteen patients and eight family members. Introductions were arranged between the study’s principal author, a nurse, the head nurses of the wards, and their patients. The age of the participants ranged from twenty-one to seventy-eight.

Observation and interviews were conducted over a twenty-month period. The primary goal was to uncover the barriers and challenges to compassionate care that confront nurses during their daily routine.

The behavior of nurses was observed in situations such as:

• Communication skills
• Tone, eye contact, empathy
• Attentiveness at the patient’s bedside
• Touching, listening, and focusing on the patient
• Making an effort to relieve the patient’s pain

The nurse-patient relationship is also affected by a society’s culture and religion. In the Middle East, religion takes on a vital role in the quality of nursing care.

When the researchers felt confident that they had exhausted all categories and concepts the data analysis began. The interviews and observations were coded and associated with specific concepts and terms.

The researchers used extensive methods to guarantee the credibility and accuracy of the study. This included word-by-word review and observation of some sections of the study by participants. An explanation of the data was provided, and study procedures were recorded accurately to enable follow-up.

Contributing Factors

Certain organizational factors can affect compassionate care such as:

• Inattention to support for the nurses
• Lack of a compassionate care role model
• Prioritizing routine over patients’ needs
• An imbalance between the allocation of time and workload.

How Has Covid-19 Changed Nursing?

The pandemic has changed nearly every aspect of healthcare. The compassionate use of touch and facial expression has been replaced by masks and surgical gloves.

Critical care nurses have been on hand to comfort patients in their last hours who are unable to be with their families. Or they have helped families contact their dying loved ones by phone or through virtual technology.

Nurses are expected to adapt, express compassion for their patients, and still have the stamina required for their jobs. The pandemic has added substantially to their burden.

Nurses are now expected to cross-train by learning how to care for patients who are on ventilators or other types of oxygen delivery systems. In some hospitals, in addition to long shifts, nurses are required to be available for two on-call evenings each month. These changes in routine have prompted some nurses to provide insights into their on-the-job experiences and offering treatment options for patients worldwide.

In a study by Papadopolous et al (2016), eighty-two percent of nurse participants said that they believe patients prefer nurses to be knowledgeable and have good interpersonal skills rather than good management and technical skills.

The pandemic has presented challenges to compassionate nursing, but the nursing profession is determined to overcome those barriers.