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Compassionate Care, The Patient Perspective, Lori Burnell Phd

Dissertations

Professional mandates call for nurses to respond with compassion (e.g., American Nurses Association [ANA] Code of Ethics, International Council of Nurses [ICN]) and countless hospital mission and vision statements prominently display compassion as their fundamental purpose. As a component of healthcare and nursing models, however, defining characteristics and standards are inconsistent. Compassion as a means of establishing a connection on a spiritual level abounds in the literature (Buck, 2006; Grant, 2004; O'Brien, 2008; Schultz et al., 2007) and is documented as a nursing requirement (e.g., ANA, ICN); however, it remains virtually uncharted from the lens of the patient. Through interpretive …