International Charter for Compassion in Healthcare

International Charter for Compassion in Healthcare

In August 2010, Compassion in Healthcare has begun to build an international collaboration in support of a proposed Charter for Compassion in Heathcare. Key academic and healthcare leaders from New Zealand, Australia, the USA and the UK have pledged support.

The Proposed Charter for Compassion in Healthcare:

This is the very preliminary text of the proposed Charter. We anticipate having creative input from many collaborators and the text of the charter will evolve over time, to be fixed at the time of formal launching of the charter in 2011 or 2012.

Compassion lies at the very heart of healthcare. It is the catalyst for healing relationships; it is the source of human comfort in the face of pain, loss and suffering; and it gives the deepest meaning and purpose to the work of health professionals.

We define compassion as the humane quality of understanding suffering and wishing to do something about it.

We therefore call upon all who work in healthcare to restore caring and compassion as the foundational values and daily, lived practices in every health service.

To accomplish this goal we need to incorporate the principles and practices of caring and compassion in our relationships, our leadership, and our guardianship of every aspect of healthcare, including:

Every curriculum for undergraduate and post-graduate training;

Every definition of professionalism;

Every professional conference and every professional journal;

Every strategy for quality improvement and patient safety;

Every workforce strategy;

And as moral foundations for healthcare policy, regulation and legislation.

We intend to offer this Charter in different languages, beginning with English and Te Reo Mäori – the language of the indigenous people of Aotearoa (New Zealand).

Mäori spiritual traditions remind us that we are all deeply connected, with one-another and with the natural world. At the root of much physical illness, lies emotional and spiritual suffering. And the ultimate cause of suffering is the illusion of separateness. Compassion is the force that draws us back together.

At the heart of Mäori ethics (“tikanga” – doing the right thing) are principles that provide a strong foundation for our work in compassion:

Wairuatanga – spirituality and sacredness;

Whanaungatanga – kinship, the heart of identity and belonging;

Kotahitanga – unity and collaboration;

Kaitiakitanga – guardianship and stewardship;

Manaakitanga – caring for;

Rangatiratanga – sovereignty and leadership.

The Mäori word for compassion is “arohanui”, which can also be translated as ‘great love’. The word for caring, “mana-a-ki-tanga” derives from the word “mana”, which translates as ‘prestige’. To care for someone therefore means ‘to give prestige’, incorporating the concepts of dignity and respect. Inclusion of these words and concepts enhances the meaning of the charter.