Cornwell J, Goodrich J (2010)
Supporting staff to deliver compassionate care using Schwartz Center Rounds – a UK pilot. Nursing Times; 106: 5, early online publication
It is essential for staff to feel supported in their jobs if they are to continuously provide high quality compassionate care to patients. One way of supporting staff, of showing them their health and wellbeing matter, is to offer them opportunities for compassionate dialogue about their experiences of delivering care – its rewards, frustrations and challenges – and their resulting thoughts and feelings.
One such forum for these conversations is the multidisciplinary Schwartz Center Rounds®, now being piloted in two UK trusts with the support of the Boston based Kenneth B. Schwartz Center and The King’s Fund’s Point of Care programme. Here
http://www.nursingtimes.net/5011200.article we describe the history of the Rounds, explore what makes their format unique and so powerful and report initial observations from the piloting phase in the UK.
Keywords Compassionate care, Staff experience, Staff health, Staff wellbeing
Comment: this is perhaps a worthwhile opportunity for chaplains to be involved, but I doubt this is going to become a feature of nursing practice outside the pilot area yet awhile. Chaplains might like to have it on their agenda and perhaps bring it up in multidisciplinary meetings with clinicians.Contributor Peter Goble, Registered Nurse Practitioner/Practice Educator
