Interviews With Health Care Professionals

Second semester I conducted interviews with health care professionals about their definition of compassion and their understanding of it as an aspect of their professional role. This served as a practical application to my project by providing insight into health professionals' view of compassion and medicine.

I worked closely with St. Olaf's Institutional Review Board (IRB) to pre-approve the interview questions. Below you will find links to St. Olaf's IRB website, the IRB application form, and an example of the written consent form.

Below you will also find the actual interview questions with links to the responses that were given. To protect the confidentiality of the participants I have combined and consolidated their responses to each of the following questions. This component of my senior project was very insightful and helped me acquire a better understanding of how compassion is linked with professionalism in the health care field.

IRB Information

St. Olaf's Institutional Review Board

IRB Application Form (MS Word Required)

Written Consent Form

Interview Questions:

1. What is your definition of compassion in the context of healthcare?
   
2. Is compassion (as defined) a crucial aspect of who you are as a professional health care provider? And why?
   
3. Do you feel it is the professional responsibility of all professionals like you to be compassionate? If yes, why? If no, why not?
   
4. In what types of situations is compassion (as defined) really called for? With what types of patients is it most important/most beneficial to be compassionate? Are there special characteristics of these patients?
   
5. What are the consequences to you of being a compassionate health care provider?
   
6. How, if at all, do you think compassion increases your effectiveness in performing your role in relation to patients?
   
7. What evidence, if any, do you have that shows your patients value and need compassion?
   
8. What are the barriers for you in providing compassionate care to your patients?
   
9. Are there any drawbacks for you in providing compassion to your patients?
   
10. Can you give me an example of a time when you embodied your definition of a compassionate caregiver?

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