Compassion: what history teaches us

Compassion has been an essential quality for nurses since Florence Nightingale's time. How have historical authors described the concept?

Bradshaw, Ann

Author Ann Bradshaw is senior lecturer in adult nursing, School of Health and Social Care, Oxford Brookes University.

•This article has been double-blind peer reviewed

Nursing Times 107(20):p 12-14, May 17, 2011.

Abstract

Bradshaw A (2011) Compassion: what history teaches us. Nursing Times; 107, 19/20: 12–14.

Although the government and nursing bodies agree that patients have a right to be treated with compassion, reports such as the Health Service Ombudsman's Care and Compassion? have criticised the NHS, and nurses in particular, for lacking this quality. This article considers how compassion has been characterised by nurse writers and educators throughout the profession's history and considers what lessons can be learnt by the profession today.