Creating a Compassionate Healthcare System

It’s now been more than a month since we held our two-day National Consensus Project on Compassionate Healthcare Working Group Meeting in Boston. We’re still processing the incredible wealth of information and ideas that came out of the meeting, but it’s clear that we have a strong mandate to move ahead in developing strategies to make our healthcare system a more compassionate one.

Institute of Medicine President Dr. Harvey Fineberg

At the plenary session that opened the meeting, Institute of Medicine President Dr. Harvey Fineberg described the system characteristics he believes are necessary to make compassion a priority:

• Time to experience the reality of compassion

• A physical environment that is conducive to expressing feelings of empathy, sympathy and compassion

• A professional environment marked by respect for caregivers

• An environment that counters the distancing of technology

• Insulation of the patient-caregiver relationship from the constant pressures of funding and financing

• Rules and procedures that reinforce the best of the compassionate care experience, such as rules about silence and lack of side conversations when in the presence of patients

• Leadership that sets the right example

“In the end,” he said, “a health system that gives compassionate care is a health system that is giving safe and high-quality care. It’s a health system that’s giving good value for the resources that are expended.”

Schwartz Center Medical Director Dr. Beth Lown addressing attendees

Among the more than 50 working group participants, who included representatives from major healthcare organizations and government agencies as well as patients and family members, many specific ideas were raised:

• Beginning every healthcare meeting with a patient-caregiver story

• Having patients and family members speak at every new hire orientation

• Including patients’ photos and stories in their electronic medical records

• Establishing a Baldridge Award for compassionate healthcare organizations

• Launching a public awareness campaign to highlight compassionate care – and finding the right language to communicate its importance and value

Finally, there was some handwringing about the current healthcare environment and the potential difficulties of launching a compassionate care movement at this particular point in time. As one attendee said, “Dramatic change in the healthcare system is both a barrier and an opportunity.” Said another: “We’re already drowning in initiatives. We don’t want this to be just another thing that people have to do.”

The question is whether compassion is actually a burden – or whether it has the potential to alleviate the stress that so many administrators and caregivers feel by reminding them why they entered the healthcare field in the first place – and helping them to focus on what is most essential about the healthcare experience.

What’s your view and what ideas do you have to create a more compassionate healthcare system?

Schwartz Center Medical Director Beth Lown, IOM President Harvey Fineberg, Schwartz Center Executive Director Julie Rosen, and Schwartz Center Board Chair Rich Doherty