A psychometric study of the Compassionate Love Scale for Humanity Short version (CLS-H-SF) within a paramedicine student cohort

Working in value-discrepant environments inhibits clinicians' ability to provide compassion and reduces well-being: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

The practice of compassion in healthcare leads to better patient and clinician outcomes. However, compassion in healthcare is increasingly lacking, and the rates of professional burnout are high. Most research to date has focused on individual-level predictors of compassion and burnout. Little is known regarding how organizational factors might impact clinicians' ability to express compassion and well-being. The main study objective was to describe the association between personal and organizational value discrepancies and compassion ability, burnout, job satisfaction, absenteeism and consideration of early retirement among healthcare professionals.

METHODS

More than 1000 practising healthcare professionals (doctors, nurses and allied health professionals) were recruited in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The study was conducted via an online cross-sectional survey and was preregistered on AsPredicted (75407). The main outcome measures were compassionate ability and competence, burnout, job satisfaction and measures of absenteeism and consideration of early retirement.

RESULTS

Perceived discrepancies between personal and organizational values predicted lower compassion ability (B = -0.006, 95% CI [-0.01, -0.00], p < 0.001 and f ²  = 0.05) but not competence (p = 0.24), lower job satisfaction (B = -0.20, 95% CI [-0.23, -0.17], p < 0.001 and f ²  = 0.14), higher burnout (B = 0.02, 95% CI [0.01, 0.03], p < 0.001 and f ²  = 0.06), absenteeism (B = 0.004, 95% CI [0.00, 0.01], p = 0.01 and f ²  = 0.01) and greater consideration of early retirement (B = 0.02, 95% CI [0.00, 0.03], p = 0.04 and f ²  = 0.004).

CONCLUSIONS

Working in value-discrepant environments predicts a range of poorer outcomes among healthcare professionals, including hindering the ability to be compassionate. Scalable organizational and systems-level interventions that address operational processes and practices that lead to the experience of value discrepancies are recommended to improve clinician performance and well-being outcomes.

Altruism in Paramedicine: A Scoping Review

While altruism has been studied in healthcare professions such as nursing and medicine, the exploration of the characteristics of altruism, as related to paramedicine and emergency care in Australia, is limited. This scoping review explores altruism in paramedicine from the perspective of the paramedic as practitioner, learner, and educator as seen through the lens of the paramedic and the patient. Also discussed is the positive impact of altruism on the patient experience of care. A scoping review was used to assess the availability of data related to altruism in paramedicine. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews was used to guide the process. Search categories were orientated around the subject (altruism) and discipline (paramedicine). A total of 27 articles are included in this scoping review. Initial searching identified 742 articles; after duplicate removal, 396 articles were screened with 346 excluded. Fifty articles were full-text reviewed and 23 excluded. The final 27 were extracted following full-text screening. None of the articles are specific to altruism in paramedicine. The data related to the practice of altruism in paramedicine are extremely limited. The preponderance of data arise from Europe and North America which, due to crewing and service differences, may impact the practice of altruism in different regions. Recent changes to the scope of paramedic practice, workload, education, and case acuity may influence behaviour regarding altruism, compassion, caring, and associated caring behaviours. The practice and education of paramedics including altruism, compassion, caring and caring behaviours in the Australasian setting warrants further research.