Exploring Nurse Managers' Views About the Practice of Compassion in the US

Monday, 18 November 2019: 9:20 AM

Magdeline Aagard, EdD, MBA, BSN
School of Health Sciences, Walden University, MINNEAPOLIS, MN, USA

Background: This research study was part of the 18-country research study, “International survey exploring nurse managers’ views about the practice of compassion.” The study stemmed from our previous study understanding the culture of compassion in nursing. Fifteen countries participated in the research, which was published in 2017.

Research Methodology: This survey study used closed and open-ended questions which were delivered via Survey Monkey. The member mailing list was purchased from the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE). Random selection was done for 500 members who were nurse managers, directors or chief executive officers. Each was sent a direct mail postcard with information about the study and a link to the survey, no email addresses were provided in the AONE member list. No responses were received from the mailing. A second IRB approval was obtained to post on social media and recruit via snowball sampling. Facebook blasts were sent out, LinkedIn posts and emails were done, it was posted on the Circle and emails were sent out to all nurse leaders that I and colleagues in the survey group knew. With this concerted effort 35 responses were obtained after 6 months. Manual content analysis was conducted of the open-ended questions. Responses were coded, then categorized and four themes were developed.

Results: The four themes were: Compassion is showing empathy, caring and concern; Create opportunities to listen and interact with staff; Barriers to providing and receiving compassion; Being culturally sensitive with staff.

Recommendations: Implications for nurse leaders include that it is important to create time to listen to and interact with staff to build trust and opportunities to provide and receive compassion. It’s important for nurse leaders to recognize the nurses and their colleagues provide and receive compassion in different ways depending on their culture and incorporate this into their demonstration of compassion. Recommendations for future research would include collecting data from a larger sample that would provide statistically significant data.

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