Compassion?

mystory, BSN, RN · Apr 22, 2012

i was having an interesting conversation the other day with a nurse friend. let me pose this question to everyone:
is compassion required to be a good nurse?
no. i do not believe compassion is required to be a good nurse. nursing is like any other job, we are being compensated via pay (and possibly benefits) for the service we provide. our service just happens to entail avocating for our patients' safety and best plan of care, listening and validating the patient, and other responsibilities that reflect compassion, but do not necessitate genuine feelings of compassion. as a psych nurse and psych np student, i can tell you that i have had many effective therapeutic conversations with patients whom i did not feel compassion towards and whom i did not care about once i clocked out for the shift.
can an uncompassionate person be a good nurse?
yes. if one safely and competently fulfills the responsibilities required of nurses. if one is excellent with knowledge and skills but does not assess or provide for a patient's emotional needs, s/he is not a good nurse, as our responsibilities and job description exceeds physiology.
what are your thoughts?

just my opinion..thanks for the interesting discussion.