More than a feeling? What does compassion in healthcare ‘look like’ to patients?

Abstract

Objective: Compassion is important to patients and their families, predicts positive patient and practitioner outcomes, and is a professional requirement of physicians around the globe. Yet, despite the value placed on compassion, the empirical study of compassion remains in its infancy and little is known regarding what compassion 'looks like' to patients. The current study addresses limitations in prior work by asking patients what physicians do that helps them feel cared for.Methods: Topic modelling analysis was employed to identify empirical commonalities in the text responses of 767 patients describing physician behaviours that led to their feeling cared for.Results: Descriptively, seven meaningful groupings of physician actions experienced as compassion emerged: listening and paying attention (71% of responses), following-up and running tests (11%), continuity and holistic care (8%), respecting preferences (4%), genuine understanding (2%), body language and empathy (2%) and counselling and advocacy (1%). Conclusion:These findings supplement prior work by identifying concrete actions that are experienced as caring by patients. These early data may provide clinicians with useful information to enhance their ability to customize care, strengthen patient-physician relationships and, ultimately, practice medicine in a way that is experienced as compassionate by patients.Public Contribution: This study involves the analysis of data provided by a diverse sample of patients from the general community population of New Zealand.

Artificial intelligence technologies and compassion in healthcare: A systematic scoping review

“…Compassion is described as a “medical virtue” ( De Bakey, 2018 ), a “virtuous response” ( Sinclair et al, 2016a , b ) or “intelligent kindness” ( Gallagher and Wainwright, 2005 ). Compassion is an expectation of recruitment to healthcare jobs ( Straughair, 2019 ); a component of ethical professional practice ( Flores and Brown, 2018 ); an indicator of healthcare quality ( Sinclair et al, 2017 ; Durkin et al, 2018 ; Clavelle et al, 2019 ; Thomas and Hazif-Thomas, 2020 ; Baguley et al, 2022 ); and a dynamic interactional experience that includes motivation, capacity, and connection ( Uygur et al, 2019 ). Compassionate caregiving has been described as involving meaningful actions to alleviate suffering and meet individual needs and prevent further suffering ( Durkin et al, 2021 ).…”

Sarcoidosis and frailty: recognizing factors that foster holistic resilience

“…A simple word swap can alter the ethos and spirit of the same end-goal. Trauma-informed/Shame-sensitive approaches of patient-clinician communication enable respectful information-sharing and augment patient choice, thus choice, mitigating or redirecting power struggles between stakeholders [6 ▪▪ ,13 ▪▪ ,14,15 ▪ ,16,17 ▪▪ ,18]. Such linguistic culture underscores perceived value and reminds us that disability and vulnerability are collective experiences that few in their lives will be untouched by.…”

“…Our intention is to offer an organizational approach that supports all stakeholders (healthcare system leaders, clinicians, patients, communities) in achieving holistic well-being and HRQoL for people living with sarcoidosis and other chronic conditions. We highlight an incremental familiarization approach to clinical care intended to protect clinicians from feeling overwhelmed and from increasing burn-out, which is crucial for a healthy patient-clinician dyad [15 ▪ ,16,17 ▪▪ ,18]. Thus, the concept of compassionate continuum was introduced along with trauma-informed/shame-sensitive values.…”

“…the capacity of the patient-clinician dyad to engage in optimal health management (Table 3) which includes inter-relational aspects, for example shared decision-making, education and foundationally supportive elements provided by healthcare systems leaders, and then by municipal and neighbourhood/faith-based community resources [3,14,15 ▪ ,17 ▪▪ ,18,19 ▪ ,21]…”

Translating theory into clinical practice: a qualitative study of clinician perspectives implementing whole person care

“…A qualitative study exploring patient perceptions of PCC showed they valued human connection above the more formal aspects of care such as goal setting and care planning 8. Similarly, listening and paying attention were by far the most frequently cited physician behaviours that patients experienced as compassionate 9. Interestingly, physicians’ self-assessment of providing compassionate care identified listening and empathy as areas needing improvement 10…”