A 71-year-old man with advanced dementia is being wheeled into his residential care home by two paramedics after a scheduled MRI. They notice him smile as he feels the warmth of the morning sun on his usually forlorn face. They decide to stop and let him soak up the rays for a few more minutes, knowing this may be one of his last opportunities to do so.
What is the impact of this compassionate act on this patient? What is the cost for the health-care providers?
The story we are told is that compassion, which is increasingly demanded within health care, is finite. Health-care providers are finding it increasingly difficult to provide it — in the midst of growing patient workloads, paperwork, institutional demands and workplace stress. Like cars, when health-care providers use this fuel in their work, they run the risk of depleting their compassion “gas tanks” in the process.
[For more of this story, written by Shane Sinclair, go to https://theconversation.com/st...assion-fatigue-79326]
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