Compassion-based care for COVID-19 patients: a qualitative analysis of nurses’ perceptions

Abstract

Compassion is a basic approach to medical practice and is the core component of health care. The purpose of the present study was to explore nurses' perceptions of compassion-based care (CBC) for COVID-19 patients. In this qualitative study, the participants were selected using purposeful sampling. Individual and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 nurses, and conventional content analysis was used to categorize the data. In the care of COVID-19 patients, CBC consisted of three categories including pro-social behaviors, paying attention to the beliefs and values of patients, and concern for family members. The first category had three subcategories including empathy, altruism, and helping in critical situations. The second category included the subcategories of the spiritual approach to care and respect for cultural aspects. The third category, concern for family members, had one subcategory: the need to consider the patient's family. Our findings may help to develop a comprehensive model in COVID-19 care according to which, in addition to routine patient care, nurses will consider concepts such as empathy, altruism, helping in critical situations, spirituality, cultural values, and the family’s needs at the end of the patient's life.