Compassionate nursing care in intensive care unit

Compassionate nursing care is a crucial factor of delivering excellent health services to patients and it could be the greatest and most important contribution that a nurse can provide to patients in health care systems. The study done by Henderson and Jones (2017) said that understanding the wishes and desires of concerned patient is crucial in delivering compassionate treatment.

After studying and working as a nurse, I am more dedicated to help and care sick people. So my
area of interest is in intensive care unit. In nursing profession, Compassionate care is in high
priority. Compassion is about intelligent treatment which demonstrates empathy, kindness, faith,
integrity and dignity but it also focus on how the patients feels about the treatment she/he
receives. Compassionate nursing care is a crucial factor of delivering excellent health
services to patients and it could be the greatest and most important contribution that a
nurse can provide to patients in health care systems. That's why nurses have always sought
and been involved in fulfilling the patient's needs by displaying altruism and despite all limitatio
ns and obstacles (Papadopoulos, Shea, Taylor,Pezzella, & Foley 2016). According to the
reasearch done by Dalvandi, Vaisi-Raygani, Nourozi, Ebadi, & Rahgozar (2019) illustrates that
providing supportive nursing care will lead to greater satisfaction for patients, safe care, time and
expenses savings, a sense of productivity and staff performance, improved trust and coping
skills. The study done by Henderson and Jones (2017) said that understanding the wishes and
desires of concerned patient is crucial in delivering compassionate treatment. On the contrary, it
has been demonastrated that certain causes such as lack of collaboration between the medical
staff, lack of commitment among nurses, lack of holistic approach and lack of service
organisation may be obstacles to holistic treatment (Babaei & Taleghani 2019). The literature
review has shown that the nurses don't know their patients and their desires. In most cases,
patient expectations are not adequately investigated and achieved (Henderson & Jones2017).
About 40% of studies have recognised challenges to compassionate care, particularly in the
fields of medical care, preparation and education. The literature suggested that educational
barriers, cultural barrier ,practical barriers, communication barriers etc are the main challenges
that affects healthcare professionals ability to provide compassionate care. Among them
communication was described as a crucial medium for the delivery of caring in clinical treatment
(Sinclair, Norris, McConnell, Chochinov, Hack, Hagen, McClement, & Bouchal 2016)
Back in my home country, working as Icu nurses one day in my morning shift there was one
patient admitted for the diagnosis of fall injury with c3-c4 vertebral fracture. He was
mechanically ventilated due to sudden drop of oxygen and Ng tube was inserted for feeding . I
have been taking care of that patient during my shifts. In the beginning felt empathy because of
his health condition. I put myself in the patient condition, and tried to think how terrified I
would be if I waked up like that. After all morning care it was the time for feeding but I forget to
feed my patient as I was busy in recording the results of care. Suddenly, I saw that my patient
was waving his hand. I noticed his unusal facial expression. I asked him what happen; he was
expressing the feeling but I was unable to understand his expressionn and my senior nurse came
and asked him .She said are you feeling hungry. Immediately they squeezed her hand for
yes.During that time, I have learned that communication is not always about speaking, but that it
can also be about squeezing hands for yes, or shaking their heads for no, with facial expression.
At the end of my shift, I found that it was necessary to concentrate on little things for each
patient. Although others mayn't know how to console the client, I eventually figured it out over
my duty hours. As a good nurse, we need to give compassionate care and concentrate on small

acts during your shift. During my shift , I understand what compassionate care was. It's not about
getting to the patients bed, taking their vitals and leaving. It's about using empathy to understand
what they feel and bringing into effect what you think will make them feel better such as holding
their hand talking with them even they are not able to talk.
Empathy is the desire to perceive or sense what another person is feeling from beyond their
frame of reference, that is, the ability to put oneself in another's situation. It plays a vital
interpersonal and community role, facilitating the exchange of experiences , needs, and wishes
among individuals, and creating an emotional bridge that facilitates positive behavior (Jeffrey
2016). How would you react if it were you?. Through putting ourselves in the patients' hands,
we're only then able to grasp what they know and what they're going through. Many researchers
suggested that established sense of empathy should be included in primary care. Empathy is a
crucial component of offering a method to determine the level of health treatment.(Kerasidou &
Horn 2018). The study done by Jeffrey (2016) argued that empathy has both cognitive
and emotional components. The cognitive portion is the basis for "imagining how you feel in a
condition with another person." The affective component is what it calls "resonance" or
"emotional accentuation:"Therefore, by using empathy in nursing care , it truly changes the
patient’s outcomes and perception towards nurses. So, patient respects the nurse further and
establishes a greater bond of trust, love between them and also improve the condition of the
patient physically and mentally.
Communication is one of the major aspects of health treatment and some clinical practises such
as patient care, social support and information sharing with patients. Communication with
patients is crucial in the present scenario, as interaction is an important part of clinical care and
has a specific significance. In the patient with Invasive manually ventilation have a
communication barrier owing to the existence of the endotracheal tube (ETT), which renders
them unable to express via speech. According to Ten Hoorn, Elbers, Girbes & Tuinman the
most commonly used means of interaction with seriously ill patients such as lip reading,
gestures, facial expression etc. Although various alternate communication approaches are
possible and about 50% of ICU patients are likely to be served by basic communication support
instruments said by Happ, Seaman, Nilsen, Sciulli, Tate,Saul, M., & Barnato (2015). Park and
Lee found that Successful empathy-based interactions not only significantly enhance patient
rehabilitation, but also improve work satisfaction by providing trust. However, most of the
research have demonstrated that critical care professionals have trouble communicating because
of the heavy job demand, time pressures and lack of the ability to use their language (Ten
Hoorn, Elbers, Girbes & Tuinman 2016)
Conclusion
In conclusion compassionate nursing care could be the greatest contribution a nurse can provide
to the patients in health care system. Hence there are different factors that can hinder to provide
commpassinate care among then empathy and communication are most.