nursing school admission essay

nursing school admission essay

The Importance of Compassion in Nursing

1. Introduction

The purpose of this assignment is to present a critical discussion regarding the importance of compassion in nursing. It includes a detailed explanation of the life of a nurse in understanding what compassion means and managing compassion fatigue and burnout while providing care. The setting is at a local hospital, Rancabali in Bandung, that has a lot of interesting and heartwarming patient stories. This hospital has the same vision as me, which is to return nursing care to a field that concerns itself with the whole person. The stories exemplify the various ways that the nurses showed compassion, leading to excellent patient outcomes. Compassion is an important element of nursing. It is a complex and multifaceted concept which has been variously defined by different disciplines and in different contexts. In this assignment, you will see what compassion represents and why it is so important to nursing care. As well as its importance, this paper will discuss why nurses are not always compassionate and provide ways to show compassion without having a heavy impact of compassionate fatigue and burnout.

2. The Role of Compassion in Nursing

The concept of holistic care is everywhere in the nursing literature. Cited as being central to effective nursing, it is found in descriptions of models for nursing, individual nurses’ statements about their nursing, and in theoretical and philosophical discussions. The concept embodies a belief in the interconnectedness of body, mind, and spirit. Holistic care involves recognizing and respecting the unique individual and responding to their personal preferences, needs, and values. It also involves providing care with the intention of healing and comforting the whole person. This means more than treating and managing disease; it involves being with the patient and acting in the moment, caring and comforting when the patient is suffering. Holistic care is considered a moral and ethical imperative. It is also a source of professional pride and satisfaction for a job well done. Compassion is central to holistic care, as no caring or comforting can be done without it.

Compassion is an essential characteristic of the nurse-patient relationship. Patients enter health care services often at their most vulnerable, worried or anxious. Being unwell might cause dependency in an adult who’s usually been self-caring and an athletic adolescent who’s used to controlling his own life. There is evidence to suggest that feeling cared for and understanding is highly significant to patients. In a UK comparative study on patients’ evaluations of hospital care, compassionate care was identified by patients as the most important element of holistic care in nursing units.

3. The Impact of Compassion on Patient Care

Austin’s interest in researching the topic was sparked by her own experiences working in clinical practice. “I think it was just my experiences working with patients and students,” she said. “I think my work as a faculty member teaching students and seeing our faculty practice nurses working with patients, I was seeing a decrease in compassionate care being delivered to patients. I can say that from my own personal experiences. Sometimes it is just people trying to get the job done, they are focused on tasks, and they don’t see the patient as a whole person.” And Austin adds, “I think we’re trained to do that as students.” The article in its entirety is very informative on how the nurse’s compassion affects patient and work outcomes.

In the Spotlight on Research column in the January issue of AJN, Wendy Likes reported on a study that sought to examine the relationship between compassionate care provided by nurses and a variety of work outcomes. The study was conducted by Wendy Austin, an associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing and a Robert Wood Johnson Nurse Faculty Scholar, and a number of other researchers.

Compassion is an essential attribute in the nursing profession. Compassionate nurses have higher job satisfaction, and patient outcomes are dramatically improved. When a nurse shows genuine compassion toward a patient, it can give the patient hope, happiness, and joy. In many cases, a compassionate nurse can truly change a patient’s outlook. Patients are able to detect when a nurse is being insincere or only acting compassionate. When this happens, they feel cheated and might even become less compliant with their treatment plan. Real compassion promotes trust and rapport building with the patients. Consequently, patients feel more at ease and are able to express their fears and concerns to the nurse. This in turn makes the nurse more aware of the patient’s needs and better able to alleviate their suffering. A more recent article conducted by Wendy Austin informed evidence of the importance of nurse’s compassion and connecting with their patients and then the effect on patient care and work outcomes.

4. Developing Compassion in Nursing School

Compassion is learned. While there is evidence to suggest that compassion is in part an innate quality (Gilbert, 2005), it is also thought to be part of an individual’s skill set (Arrow, 1996). As such, it is important to consider how compassionate behaviour can be developed and fostered in nursing. Mercier (2002) suggests that the process begins with the moment an individual enters nursing school. It is here that some of the fundamental grounding in nursing takes place and this is where the importance of compassion needs to be highlighted to students. Currently, there is a trend towards an increased focus on academic achievement and clinical skills, in light of nurse education now being at degree level. While these are important in creating a good standard of nurse, it should be remembered that nursing is fundamentally about caring for others, and that compassion is at the heart of this caring (Hutchinson, 1999). If a nurse has no compassion, the basis of nursing care is negated, leading to a poorer experience of illness for the patient. Despite this founding understanding, many new nurses feel unprepared for the emotional side of nursing and report feeling distressed and uncomfortable in emotionally charged situations (Begley, 1999). It is essential that this emotional preparedness be fostered in students, as not addressing this issue has shown to lead to ‘compassion fatigue’ with resulting burn out and decreased caring ability. One approach to developing compassion is to ensure that nursing students are nurtured in a supportive and caring environment. Draper and McSherry (2002) suggest that compassionate caring attitudes are best fostered in students in an environment that facilitates a sense of being valued and supported and allows the emotional aspects of care to be dealt with. At present, the heavy academic focus in nursing education has shown to lead to students feeling undervalued and uncared for by their lecturers (Cleary et al, 2011). As this is likely to continue as nurse education moves towards an all-graduate profession and nursing academics are more research focused, it is important that steps are taken to address this issue. Supportive learning environments have been achieved through implementation of a mentor system, where students are individually supported and guided through their learning by qualified nurses (Draper and McSherry, 2002). An example of such successful programs is at the University of Southampton, UK and Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals, UK. Measures such as these may help to make sure that higher academic education does not come at the expense of student well-being and the compassion they require to be effective carers.

5. Conclusion

This concept is the basis for a theory known as cultural safety, which is defined by nursing theorist Irihapeti Ramsden as an environment that is safe for people where there is no assault, challenge, or denial of their identity. Considering the fact that the sociocultural behaviors and norms held amongst nurses today may be quite varied, it is essential that all nurses take an introspective look at their attitudes and feelings surrounding people from cultures and education levels possibly quite different from their own.

Of equal importance is the fact that nurses are encouraged to take an in-depth look at their attitudes and feelings surrounding patients who are recipients of their care. Times are changing and the nation is becoming increasingly more culturally diverse. Today’s nurse will care for people from many different cultural backgrounds and education levels. Without understanding a patient and their unique cultural beliefs and practices, it is difficult to provide patient-centered care and to do no harm to that patient. Failure to do so may result in a patient feeling alienated or removed from their own culture.

With so much at stake, all nurses should be cognizant of the basic fact that compassion is not a character trait but rather a learned attribute that comes about through a conscious decision to care for others. Compassion is a virtue that nurses do not consciously strive for or achieve during their nursing education. Yet, it is crucial that student nurses are introduced to the concept of compassion and encouraged to develop that attribute from the very outset of their nursing education and training. It is imperative to the nursing profession that in all types of nursing education and at all entry levels, nurses are encouraged to introspect not only on the fact that they want to help people but also on the reasons behind that desire.

Our innermost thoughts and desires strongly mold the outcome of our life. The creative power of the mind is a vital force. The potential to bring positive or negative outcomes is quite considerable. This creative power of the mind is never more vivid than in the field of nursing. The thoughts and pictures held in the mind can make the difference between an overt display of prejudice toward patients from minority groups or a correctional adjustment in one’s personal attitudes as a precursory step to providing genuinely informed and sensitive care for all patients.