Compassionate leadership

摘要

There is always talk of leadership in nursing and the traits you need to be a 'good' leader. This talk about leadership to ensure safe high-quality care usually refers to compassion as a necessary ingredient and this concept has been increasingly mentioned in recent years. Compassion is a word you love or hate. Some people think it is an outdated description of a way of working more akin to vocational callings and religious orders than a modern and progressive graduate profession. Others find that it provides a description of how we practice nursing, which everyone can understand — one word that sums up caring, kindness, respect, dignity and understanding. For me, it is all of these things. It is part of a modern and progressive profession that is as proud of its past as its present.