Articles: empathy.
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Suffering is the experience of distress or disharmony caused by the loss, or threatened loss, of what we most cherish. Such losses may strip away the beliefs by which we construct a meaningful narrative of human life in general and our own in particular. The vocation of physicians and other health professionals is to relieve suffering caused by illness, trauma, and bodily degeneration. ⋯ Unfortunately, however, medical pedagogy encourages "detached concern," which devalues subjectivity, emotion, relationship, and solidarity. The term "compassionate solidarity" summarizes an alternative model, which begins with empathic listening and responding, requires reflectivity and self-understanding, and is in itself a healing act. Poetry, along with other imaginative writing, may help physicians and other health professionals grow in self-awareness and gain deeper understanding of suffering, empathy, compassion, and symbolic healing.
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Intensive Crit Care Nurs · Dec 2008
Comparative StudyThe importance of critical care nurses' caring behaviours as perceived by nurses and relatives.
This paper will report a research study conducted to compare the perceptions of nurses and relatives of critically ill patients on the importance of the caring behaviours of critical care nurses. ⋯ The results of this study have demonstrated that there are more similarities than differences between the perceptions of nurses and relatives on the importance of the caring behaviours of critical care nurses. The results of this study will give critical care nurses a greater understanding of how their caring behaviours are perceived by others. Incorporating the views of relatives into the delivery of care in the context of critical care will allow nurses to create a patient-centered service.