Enabling Compassionate Health Care: Perils, Prospects and Perspectives

Document Type: Perspective

Author

Health Services Management Center, University of Birmingham, UK

Abstract

There is an emerging consensus that caring and compassion are under threat in the frenetic environment of modern healthcare. Enabling and sustaining compassionate care requires not only a focus on the needs of the patient, but also on those of the care giver. As such, threats and exhortations to health professionals are likely to have limited and perverse effects and it is to the organisational and system arrangements which support staff that attention should shift. Any approach to supporting compassionate care may work for some services, for some patients and staff, some of the time. No single approach is likely to be a panacea. Unravelling the contexts within which different approaches are effectual will allow for more selective development of support systems and interventions.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

1.  Abraham A. Care and compassion: Report of the health service ombudsman on ten investigations into NHS care of older people, fourth report if the health service commissioner for England; session 2010-2011, HC 778.London: The Stationary Office; 2011.

2.  Francis R. Report of the Mid Staffordshire Foundation NHS Trust Public Inquiry Volumes 1-3, HC-898-I-III. London: The Stationery Office; 2013.

3.  Davies H, Mannion R. Will prescriptions for culture change improve the NHS? BMJ2013; 346: f1305. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.f1305

4.  Department of health. Developing the culture of compassionate care: creating a new vision and strategy for nurses, midwives and care givers. London: HSMC; 2012.

5.  Lown B, Rosen J, Martilla J. An agenda for improving compassionate care: a survey shows about half of patients say such care is missing. Health Aff (Millwood)2011; 30: 1772–8. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2011.0539

6.  Cornwell J, Goodrich J. Exploring how to enable compassionate care in hospitals to improve patient experience. Nurs Times 2009; 105: 15–23.

7.  Chochinov J. Dignity and the essence of medicine: the a, b and c and d of dignity conserving care. BMJ2007; 335: 184–7. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.39244.650926.47

8.  Dewar B, Nolan M. Caring about caring: developing a model to implement compassionate releationship ceneterd care in an older people care setting. Int J Nurs Stud 2013; 50: 1247–58. doi: 10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2013.01.008

9.  Epstein RM, Franks P, Shields CG, Meldrum SC, Miller KN, Campbell TL, et al. Patient –centered communication and diagnostic testing. Ann Fam Med 2005; 3: 415–21.

10.  Jacobs R, Mannion R, Davies HTO, Harrison S, Konteh F, Walshe K. The relationship between organizational culture and performance in acute hospitals. Soc Sci Med2013; 76: 115–25. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.10.014

11.  Mannion R, Davies HTO, Marshall M. Cultural attributes of ‘high’ and ‘low’ performing hospitals. J Health Organ Manag 2005; 19: 431–9. doi: 10.1108/14777260510629689

12.  Mannion R, Davies HTO, Marshall M. Cultures for Performance in Health Care.London: Open University Press; 2005.

13.  Sawbridge Y, Hewsion A. Thinking about the emotional labour of nursing – supporting nurses to care. J Health Organ Manag 2013; 27: 127–33. doi: 10.1108/14777261311311834

14.  Rynes SL, Bartunek JM, Dutton JE, Margolis JD. Care and compassion through an organizational lens: opening up new possibilities.  Acad Manageme Rev2012; 37: 503–23. doi: 10.5465/amr.2012.0124

International Journal of Health Policy and Management

Volume 2, Issue 3
April 2014
Pages 115-117

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics