Recommended Readings

Welcome to the uncovered part of my most recent research endeavor. I studied the impact that compassionate care has onto the satisfaction of patients. The following are several recommended readings that can help guide you into understanding the importance of compassionate care and provide information onto the voices of America’s patients around the world.

“E.W. Sparrow honors Compassionate ICU Nurse with DAISY Award.” by Contify Life Science News

This article discusses a nurse who was given an award for her outstanding service during the COVID-19 pandemic, she demonstrated compassionate care towards her patients. Critical for understanding because of the fact that we have a lack of compassionate healthcare professionals and it’s evident that sharing compassion leads to happier patients and family members. I recommend this article due to the fact that it shows the faceless healthcare workers who devote everything towards being compassion which is what I am devoting my future to researching and practicing.

 “‘we are doing it together’; the integral role of caregivers in a patients’ transition home from the medicine unit.” by Shoshana Hahn-Goldberg

This article discusses an experiment held in order to determine the effect of compassionate care on discharged patients. The study concluded an increase in satisfaction among patients after receiving an increase in compassionate care. As a future physician this is a crucial to understand because the duty is to ensure that our patients are the most satisfied. There is viable data to support as well that compassionate support leads to higher patient satisfaction making this article quintessential for research on compassionate support.

“Impact of the doctor-patient relationship.” (case 2) by Fallon E Chipidza

The second case of this medical article shows a case study of a women who is addicted to alcohol who also developed a tumor that she must receive treatment for. She ended up going through a mental breakdown because of the doctor’s diagnosis but one thing that stands out is how apathetic the doctor is. They don’t console the patient nor do they show much empathy which goes against the principles of compassionate support and even further lowered the patient satisfaction. Without the compassion from their doctor there was a clear decline in satisfaction and happiness furthering the research on compassionate care’s effects on patient satisfaction.

“Can Compassion Help Heal Patients – and Providers?” by Stacy Weiner

This article discusses the benefits of compassion to the human mind and studied the impact compassion has onto doctors and patients. It was concluded that compassionate doctors relieve stress easier and have a reduced chance of burnout and for patients it was concluded that they will be overall happier. Thus highlighting the importance of compassion as it is a double-edged sword and can strike both the doctor and the patient.

“Pain Scale” by Eula Biss

This story is narrated by the daughter of a doctor who talks about the commonly used pain scale which is meant to identify the level of pain patients face. They break down each number on the scale but what stood out the most was the ending where they discuss that it would be more helpful to focus on how much the patient wants to alieve the pain. This shows compassion as the doctor is paying close attention to the needs of the patient which drives the treatment plan for the issue. Compassion just makes patients happier and more satisfied overall and true compassion can triumph over the pain scale.

“Feminist Ethics of Care” by Jean Keller and Eva Feder Kitay

This text describes ethics of care, and dives into the idea “what does it mean to care?”. The text is great as it discusses a plentiful amount of morality between doctors and their patients and gives genuine reasoning for the beliefs held. This was one of my biggest inspirations to research compassion for my work.

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlette Gilman

This is a short story dealing with the theme of mistreatment of female patients during the late 1800s. It helps show the benefits of compassionate care and it displays the importance of a patient connection as it helps the doctor fully understand how their treatment plan may be effecting their patients.

Citations

  • “E.W. Sparrow honors Compassionate ICU Nurse with DAISY Award.” Contify Life Science News, 20 Dec. 2022, p. NA. Gale OneFile: Health and Medicine, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A730720400/HRCA?u=nysl_ca_dmvacces&sid=bookmark-HRCA&xid=769e6351. Accessed 5 Oct. 2023. 
  • Hahn-Goldberg, Shoshana, et al. “‘we are doing it together’; the integral role of caregivers in a patients’ transition home from the medicine unit.” PLOS ONE, vol. 13, no. 5, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0197831.
  • Chipidza, Fallon E., et al. “Impact of the doctor-patient relationship.” The Primary Care Companion For CNS Disorders, 2015, https://doi.org/10.4088/pcc.15f01840.
  • Biss , Eula. Pain Scale . Harper’s Magazine , 2018.
  • Weiner, Stacy, et al. “Can Compassion Help Heal Patients – and Providers?” AAMC, AAMC, 19 Nov. 2019, www.aamc.org/news/can-compassion-help-heal-patients-and-providers#:~:text=Compassionate%20care%20is%20associated%20with%20improved%20outcomes%20and%20greater%20patient%20adherence.
  • Keller, Jean, and Eva Feder Kittay. “Feminist ethics of care.” The Routledge Companion to Feminist Philosophy, 2017, pp. 540–555, https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315758152-44. 
  • Gilman, C. P. (n.d.). The yellow wallpaper. Full Text – The Yellow Wallpaper – Owl Eyes. https://www.owleyes.org/text/yellow-wallpaper/read/yellow-wallpaper#root-422327-1