Building and Sustaining a Compassionate Nursing Practice

By Susan L. Johnson, PhD, RN

This book is designed to be an introduction to the science and research on compassion, as well as a workbook with evidence-based exercises that readers can do to build their ability to practice nursing with compassion and to nurture self-compassion. Because nurses work in many settings, there is content for staff nurses, nursing leaders and nursing educators. While individuals who are drawn to the nursing profession are undoubtably already endowed with a degree of compassion, in the face of stressors and organizational constraints, their ability to act with compassion can be diminished. In the case of compassion fatigue or burnout, they may feel they have lost their ability to care. Nursing education has for the most part focused on the cognitive and psychomotor skills necessary to practice nursing, neglecting affective skills necessary to address human suffering. Many nurses, myself included, were never explicitly taught how to provide compassionate care. It is my hope that this book will help address this gap in nursing education.