Compassion: The Art of Medicine

Abstract

Compassion is necessary in clinical situations because they involve a medical response to suffering and carry respect, a desire to help, serve, and express solidarity. The use of the three “t's” to express compassion has been suggested: talk, take time, and touch (Talk or listen, Give time and Touch or caress). Compassion is part of humanization and involves affection, dedication, respect for the other and considering the person in their total integrity. Doctors and nurses should invite the family to participate in the health care of their relatives. In this act the values and virtues that make up the moral formation and that are taught or reinforced in the medical school emerge.