Healthcare professionals’ compassion in caring for patients at the end of life – An integrative literature review

Background It is projected that the annual number of deaths will increase from 57 to 70 million between 2015 and 2030, placing increased demands on healthcare professionals in end-of-life care. Providing end-of-life care poses significant challenges for healthcare professionals, especially alleviating patients’ suffering. Compassion, which is a foundational concept in caring science, is essential for easing suffering and can transform the caring experience for patients at the end of life and their families. According to the theory of caritative caring, compassion is the source of true caring. Aim The aim of this integrative review is to explore healthcare professionals’ compassion in end-of-life care. Design An integrative review design was chosen. The literature searches were conducted in the CINAHL, Scopus and PubMed databases and 12 studies were included. As this was a review of published literature, ethical approval was not required. Quality appraisal The Critical Skills Appraisal Programme (CASP) for qualitative research was used to evaluate the quality of the included studies. Findings The analysis revealed one overarching theme; Embracing the patient at the end of life and three categories; Being with the patient in the present moment, Being in a caring communion and Being available and attuned to the patient . Conclusion A healthcare professional’s compassion can be key to achieving end-of-life care which unites evidence-based practice and the patient’s voice as a human being. It is through compassion that healthcare professionals’ caring can evolve at the end of life. This integrative review shows the importance and significance of a healthcare professional’s compassion in caring for a patient at the end of life.