Compassion and nurse education

In the aftermath of the Mid Staffordshire Scandal in the UK, there has been an increased focus on the role of compassion in health care ethics. Much of the discussion has focused on “compassion training”: how to ensure compassion in nurse students and in qualified nurses. However, how the concept of compassion is understood is not always clear in this debate.This ambiguity leads to unclear strategies on how to ensure moral competence in the education of nurses. In this paper, we seek to clarify the concept of compassion and discuss consequences for its relevance to the education of nurses. In the recent debate on compassion, the concept seems to be understood in at least three different ways: As a raw affliction or immediate and automatic response to the suffering of others. As a response some have more than others, based on their personality and temper. The challenge with both these understandings is that it is difficult to ensure that nurses are compassionate if experiencing the response of compassion is completely outside the control of the agent. As a cognitive emotion. We discuss two different understandings of cognitive emotions found in the philosophical literature. Martha Nussbaum’s understanding is influential but may imply that compassion is a rather private and personal matter, depending upon the agent’s personal interests in the situation. Israel Scheffler suggests a different relation between cognition and emotion is somewhat different, arguing that understanding and learning is impossible without emotional involvement such as caring, engagement and commitment to the issue at hand. We argue that such a holistic approach to cognitive emotions is crucial to moral formation in professional education, and that the discussion of compassion in nursing care should be seen as part of this approach.