On this page there are three core elements for you to engage with. Before you start please read through the presentation on care & compassion and the associated reflective exercises which you can find on the page entitled Becoming a Caring & Compassionate Practitioner. This will really help you put the discussions here into context. You may also find it useful to complete the presentation and exercises on values and beliefs before engaging with this work. If you have not done the latter, please do consider going to that page next.
By the end of this page you will be able to:
- Understand why caring & compassionate practice is important in everyday practice
- Understand what caring & compassionate practice can mean to patients/clients and how it can be of benefit
- Understand how you, as a person, can use your interpersonal and intrapersonal skills to enact caring & compassionate practice
- Understand what we mean by the therapeutic use of self
- Have an overview of practical techniques that you can utilise to help you develop a more caring & compassionate approach to others
- Begin to critically challenge and explore how you can address the organisational barriers to caring & compassionate practice in health and social care workplaces.
For the first element, please work through the presentation below, and complete the associated reflective exercises.
Next, please listen to the the sound cloud by Hiro Tanaka, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, Aneurin Bevan Local Health Board, who shares three personal stories which illustrate the important ingredients needed to transform patient care and experience. As you listen to this please reflect on and consider how the staff applied the principles of the therapeutic use of self in action and what the benefits were for the staff and the patients concerned:
Finally please watch the YouTube presentation by Anaesthesiologist Dr Robert Youngson. As you listen please consider why care & compassionate practice is important in practice for the patients, the staff and the organisation. Further, consider the benefits for the patients, the staff and the organisation.
Please write a reflective blog post in terms of caring & compassionate practice considering patients, staff and the organisation by exploring your thoughts and understanding from what you have learned so far. You might feel able to link this to the principles of compassionate leadership, but don’t worry if this is not clear for you at the moment.
Thank you for engaging with the work on this page. We hope you have found these materials and exercises useful and meaningful. If you have not already completed it, please consider going to the Exploring & Understanding Personal Beliefs, Values and Behaviours page next. If you have completed that page, please go to Exploring what Caring & Compassionate Practice Look Like and engage with Lara’s Story Parts 1 & 2 which consider the patient and carer perspectives of care & compassion in practice.
To reference written materials on this page please cite:
Clouston, T.J. 2018. Understanding why Caring & Compassionate Practice is Important, Available at: https://caringpractitioner.wordpress.com/understanding/ [Accessed: date].