Preview

Can You Teach Compassion?

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1129 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Can You Teach Compassion?
Can You “Teach” Compassion

As nurse educators, who could be a better example of teaching compassion to us than the Son of God Himself, Jesus Christ? Jesus was the ultimate teacher, healer, and lover of mankind. Matthew 9:35-39 states: “Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.’”(NKJV) As Christians, Jesus Christ is our example of how to live. If Jesus could have compassion for those who He loved, so should we. We should show this compassion to our patients as we seek to help them reach healing. We should seek to teach our students how to have compassion for those that they will serve. Compassion, or caring, can be viewed as “nursing’s most precious asset” (Schantz, 2007), a fundamental element of nursing care (Dietze and Orb, 2000), and as one of the strengths of the profession. One can think of few other professions that are known for their “caring”. But this act of caring does not come naturally to the nursing student-it must be taught. The nurse educator must seek out specific exercises to instill caring practices in the nursing student. According to Wright (2004), “Society has witnessed an increase in the power of technology, and this appears to be mirrored in nursing, where the technical and managerial aspects of care take priority over care delivery - possibly because the expansion of nurses’ role has eroded the essence of nursing.” The nurse of today is so busy with computer charting, monitoring, and the technical duties of nursing that little time is actually left for “caring” for the



References: Adams, P. (2011, March). Education of compassion. Patch Adams M.D. & Gesundheit! Institute. Retrieved from http://patchadams.org/education-in-compassion-update-march-2011 Dietze, E.V., Orb, A. (2000) Compassionate care: a moral dimension in nursing. Nursing Inquiry; 7: 3, 166-174. Fields, J. (2008, March 27). Can you really teach compassion? New study says yes. jonathanfields. Retrieved from http://www.jonathanfields.com/blog/can-you-really-teach-compassion-new-study-says-yes/ Maxwell, J.C. (Ed.). (2007). The Maxwell leadership Bible. Nashville: Thomas Nelson. Newton, V. (2010, October 1). Teach students compassion by being an excellent role model. Nursing Times.Net. Retrieved from http://www.nursingtimes.net/teach-students-compassion-by-being-an-excellent-role-model/5020011.article Pearcey, P. (2007) Tasks and routines in 21st century nursing: student nurses’ perceptions. British Journal of Nursing; 16: 5, 296-300. Schantz, M. (2007) Compassion: a concept analysis. Nursing Forum; 42: 2, 48-55. Wright, S. (2004) Say goodbye to core values. Nursing Standard; 18: 34, 22-23.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Cited: Ascher, Barbara Lazear. “On Compassion.” 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology. Ed. Samuel Cohen. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford/ St.Martin’s, 2011. 46-49. Print.…

    • 961 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Nursing Transition

    • 961 Words
    • 4 Pages

    During my service in the United States Army, my insignia for the Medical Corps was “Care with Compassion.” I believe this holds true for nursing today. Nurses provide the highest quality of care achievable with compassion for the client. A nurse must be culturally sensitive, promote health, and apply knowledge of new sciences to their profession (Catalano, 2009). A nurse must have knowledge in many areas such as Psychology, Science, Ethics, Culture, Religion, Education, and Critical Thinking. Because of this knowledge, the emotional demands of nurses are much more than the physical demands (Catalano, 2009).…

    • 961 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Compassion In Nursing

    • 1212 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Definitions of compassion in nursing care: Compassion is a force that “impels and empowers people to not only acknowledge, but also act” (Schantz, 2007 in Nursing Forum). This definition builds off of the general definition provided by Miriam Webster, and it strengthens the link between acknowledgements of…

    • 1212 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Van der Cingal, M. (2009). Compassion and Professional Care: Exploring the Domain. Nursing Philosophy, 102, 124-136.…

    • 1422 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    On Compassion

    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Ascher, Barbara. “On Compassion”. 5O Essays. Ed. Samuel Cohen. Boston: Bedford/St.Martin 's, 2004. 35-38. Print.…

    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Nursing is a unique discipline that calls for a special type of person to give compassionate…

    • 2714 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Compassion Fatigue

    • 1047 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The concept of compassion fatigue was introduced in 1992, by Carla Johnson RN, while researching burnout in emergency department nurses, she found out that some of the nurses had lost their “ability to nurture”. Since then, various authors and many other professional groups outside nursing, such as physicians, social workers, government organization and police, and firefighters have adopted the concepts of combating compassion fatigue.…

    • 1047 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Legal, Safety, Regulatory

    • 898 Words
    • 4 Pages

    University of Michigan: Newsroom. (2003, October 23). Compassion in the workplace has far-reaching impact. Retrieved from http://www.newswise.com/articles/compassion-in-the-workplace-has-far-reaching-impact…

    • 898 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    The practice of nursing is synonymous with the concepts of empathy, compassion, nurturing, and caring. In the last two decades, a global nursing shortage has developed, leading to a phenomenon in nursing never seen before; the delivery of nursing care without nurturing. Increased workloads, higher patient acuity, deficient resources, and inadequate support systems, have all contributed to the decreased job satisfaction that has left nurses unable to display the compassion that was once a unique quality of nurses (Hooper, Craig, Janvrin, Wetsel, &…

    • 2581 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Marrs, J. & Lowry, L. W. (2006). Nursing theory and practice: Connecting the dots. Nursing Science Quarterly, 19(1), 44-50. doi:10.1177/0894318405283547…

    • 1137 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The article “Compassion Fatigue: Are You at Risk” Nancy Jo Bush explains how compassion fatigue changes E.P’s normal life to a hopeless and senseless one. . Figley (1999) described this phenomenon as the cost of caring. Compassion fatigue can affect any person, but mostly it affects people those who are in care giving profession…

    • 871 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The purpose of this research study was to describe the prevalence of compassion fatigue among a broad spectrum of nurses and to investigate the situations that lead to compassion fatigue and methods of coping. The research questions were as follows:…

    • 768 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The author states that “compassion is understood mainly in terms of empathy, our ability to enter into and, to some extent, share others’ suffering.” When the Dalai Lama wants me to be compassionate he doesn’t only mean to the people that are nice to me that need help or the people that are in desperate need for…

    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Compassion Fatigue

    • 778 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Caregivers can become burnt out, which can then lead to compassion fatigue. A caregiver that has compassion fatigue will have physical distress, psychological distress, cognitive shifts, and relational disturbances. Some symptoms or signs of a compassion fatigued caregiver could include sadness, grief, nightmares, avoidance, addiction, increased psychological arousal, changes in beliefs, changes in expectations, detachment, and decreased intimacy (McSteen, 2010). Having compassion fatigue can…

    • 778 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Changes in Nursing

    • 830 Words
    • 4 Pages

    9. Doane GH, Varcoe C. Toward compassionate action: Pragmatism and the inseparability of theory /practice. Adv Nurs Sci. 2005; 28:81-90.…

    • 830 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics