The Importance of Compassion in Health Care

Amid all of the current debate over health care system changes resulting from the reform law, what is sometimes lost is the importance of the human element of health care. You can’t legislate empathy or compassion, yet they are essential elements of providing quality care. That point was brought home to me recently when I attended the annual dinner of the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare, an organization in Boston that focuses on the need for caregivers to provide emotional support as well as good clinical care during an illness or after an injury. What I heard and saw was a powerful and inspiring reminder of how critical that part of medical care is, and how easy it is to lose sight of it.

Kenneth B. Schwartz, for whom the center is named, was a health care lawyer in Boston who was diagnosed with lung cancer in the mid-1990s when he had just turned 40. Ken, a man in his prime and father of a young son, was horrified to find himself with a terminal diagnosis. As he reached the end of his battle, he published a very moving – and, as it turned out, very influential – article in the Boston Globe about his experiences. This was an article that I remember reading some 15 years ago, long before I got involved in patient satisfaction and quality of care work.

What was moving about his article, and what has led to a lasting legacy, was his description of what made his battle bearable. The care of his doctors and nurses and their ability to reach out and connect to him and provide not just excellent medical care but to support him and his family emotionally and spiritually was what made all the difference to him. As he put it in the article, “The ordeal has been punctuated by moments of exquisite compassion. I have been the recipient of an extraordinary array of human and humane responses to my plight. These acts of kindness – the simple human touch from my caregivers – have made the unbearable bearable.”

After Ken’s death, his family established the Schwartz Center to carry on Ken’s message of the critical importance and the value of compassionate care. The main vehicle that the Schwartz Center uses to spread this message is a program called the Schwartz Center Rounds. These rounds are open to any and all staff providing care for patients and are “dedicated to strengthening the relationships between patients and caregivers,” as described on the center’s web site.

The rounds provide a forum for providers to discuss cases or situations that they found emotionally challenging. Open discussion during the rounds helps to provide support for these caregivers and helps them to provide emotionally supportive care to their patients. Interestingly, the needs of caregivers as well the needs of their patients are addressed in the rounds. This program has grown steadily since its inception in the 1990s and now exists in over 200 hospitals in 34 states.

It was very inspiring to see the level of support for the Schwartz Center at its annual dinner, which according to one of my tablemates has become one of the largest fundraising events in Boston. And although I had gone to the dinner feeling tired and under the weather with a cold, I left with a feeling of hope. The work that the Schwartz Center is doing is an important antidote to how worn down we all get by the daily demands of our work. It is a reminder that most of us got into health care to ensure that our system of care works well and that patients get the very best care possible.

The Schwartz Center’s work – and Ken Schwartz’ legacy – is to make sure that emotional support and a human connection remains central to that care no matter what other demands exist. As Ken said in his article, borrowing from King Lear, “The love and devotion of my family and friends, and the deep caring and engagement of my caregivers, have been a tonic for my soul and have helped to take some of the sting from my scalding tears.”