Compassion in Crisis Situations among Healthcare Professionals: Basis for Psychosocial Support

Abstract

This study looked into the level of compassion of the healthcare professionals dwelled into the perceptions of the patients as well as the barriers affecting compassion. The study employed a quantitative research design utilizing a descriptive-correlational approach, the study focused on 160 healthcare professionals and 130 patients. Data were collected through survey and analyzed using frequency counts and percentage, weighted mean, and spearman rank correlation. The study found that majority of the healthcare professionals belong to young adulthood, female, married, roman catholic, with five years and below of healthcare work experience. Most of the nurses are college graduates earning around Php15,000 to Php25,000, while the majority of the doctors are fellows earning Php55,000 and above monthly. On the other hand, the largest portion of the patients belong to young adulthood (26.9%), female (70%), married (58.5%), roman catholic (80.8%), finished secondary education (40.8%), with Php10,957 and below monthly income (56.2%). Majority of their diagnosis belongs to cardiovascular diseases (21.5%). Care (4.08), competence (4.5), communication (4.06), courage (4.04) and commitment (4.01), altogether garnered a grand mean of 4.07 indicating that the healthcare professionals as highly compassionate healthcare in each area assessed. Barriers such as burnout (3.41), external distractions (3.19), difficult patient/family (3.04) and clinical complexity (3.15), further confirmed with a 3.19 grand mean, indicates moderate impediment of the healthcare professional’s ability to provide compassionate care towards patients. The level of compassion is not influenced by the patient’s profile. However, perception of commitment is highly influenced by the patient’s educational attainment. The study concludes that the interconnected nature of data derived from the investigation necessitates the development of a structured and person-centered guide that targets not the only the healthcare professionals but also external contributors such as but not limited with patients, healthcare team and the healthcare institutions. Thus, COMPASSion Framework for Care Providers is proposed.