Empathy and Compassion

Being a great nurse requires a multitude of skill sets. Along with practical and hands on skills, a nurse must have both empathy and compassion. Although compassion and empathy are closely related, they differ in meaning. Empathy is the ability to see one’s pain and suffering and understand what they are going through (“Compassion Definition” 2020). By viewing the situation from the patient’s perspective, a nurse should be able to take on and feel the same emotions. When a nurse experiences empathy, generally what comes next is compassion. Compassion is the desire to help relieve the patient’s suffering after empathizing with what they have been going through (“Compassion Definition” 2020). These two concepts played a large role in Jean Watson’s development of the 10 carative factors that are critical to providing patients with caring interactions, which I can apply to my future clinical practice.

When it comes to Jean Watson’s theory, caring and compassion are essential to nursing practice. She believed that compassion can change simple medical care into health promotion, which is a focus of nursing. By taking a holistic approach to practice, it promotes healing and a feeling of being accepted, instead of a patient feeling judged. This shows that a patient is truly valued and cared for, which can create a more open environment to healing. These concepts are what influenced Watson’s development of the 10 carative factors for nursing practice.  The purpose of her developing these factors was to create ideals to be addressed by nurses when caring for patients. By integrating these 10 factors, a nurse can change their job of just practicing their profession into a caring role. Through caring practice, a patient feels valued, is more likely to heal quicker, has less pain, and expresses less anxiety. Patients are also more likely to follow care plans if they feel supported and are able to contact providers easily if they need help (Steele, 2017). Not only does the patient feel better, practicing compassion can make the nurse 

feel better, slow their heart rate, and decrease their risk of getting heart disease (“Compassion Definition” 2020). When the nurse is feeling good, they are able to provide the best care. 

            During my first 4 weeks of my clinical rotation, I had struggled making a connection with my patients. It was not until my last week that I truly got to know my patient and their family enough to provide compassionate care. I was lucky enough to have both the patient and spouse in the room with me to talk about how the patient had ended up in the hospital. By being able to hear the story from two points of view, I was able to really understand what the couple had gone through. They had spoken about how immersed in their community they were, and how they would always do their best to help their neighbors. Feeling isolated from their community from a long stay and a long commute to the hospital was difficult for them. Being able to be there for them, just as someone to talk to and share interests with, felt important. Not only was I important to the couple through providing therapeutic conversation, they also felt important to me by giving me purpose and meaning as a student who can only perform minimal tasks in the hospital. Through being able to empathize with this couple’s story, I felt compassion. I wanted to do anything I could to try and ease this family’s suffering. I was able to establish a supportive environment and promote an expression of feelings with this couple, demonstrating the use of some of Watson’s 10 carative factors. 

            Later in the evening, the patient began to have intense spasms with pain. The nurse had administered medication, but it had not kicked in yet. In this situation, there was not much I could do for the couple. The role I played in this situation was as a messenger between the family and the nurse. The nurse had told me that the medication was supposed to work within the next 20 minutes. I was able to convey this to the patient and their spouse to assure them that the pain would not last much longer. This was around the time when the spouse was scheduled to leave. They expressed concern about leaving the patient alone, especially in his condition. I was able to put her mind at ease by letting her know that the staff at the hospital will do their best to make sure the patient is okay. By speaking to the spouse, not only was I able make her feel hope that her spouse would be in good hands, I was able to establish trust between her and the healthcare team. This is another example of using some of Watson’s 10 carative factors. 

            In the future, I think it is important to establish a trusting relationship with your patient from the beginning. By establishing trust and compassion at admission, it allows the patient to be more comfortable and more open to receiving care. I wish I was able to spend more time with the patient and develop that trust sooner. This is something that I want to work towards and apply to the rest of my clinical rotations and my future nursing career. I believe trust is one of the best ways to incorporate caring behavior in clinical practice. By establishing a caring nurse-patient relationship through trust, the goals become more easily achievable. Not only is it important to have the patient trust you, you must also have faith in your patients. 

            I know that I wanted to become a nurse because I have always liked helping people and would like to incorporate that into my future career. Some of the best ways to care for people are through empathy and compassion. Without these two concepts, nursing would just be another profession, instead of caring for the ill, restoring, and promoting health. Through empathy, compassion, and Watson’s 10 carative factors, I will be able to improve patient outcomes and satisfaction. The best ways to incorporate these concepts are through establishing trust, providing therapeutic conversation, and incorporating emotions and feelings with problem solving. Caring behaviors are essential to nursing practice and the well-being of our patients, and I plan to incorporate them into the rest of my years as a student, and in my future nursing career.