Compassion in the emergency department. Part 2: barriers to the provision of compassionate care

In this second part of our three part series, David Hunter and colleagues discuss, in detail, the barriers to the provision of compassionate care in the Emergency Department. Part one of the series reported on the doctoral level research, which explored the experiences of student nurses in the Emergency Department in relation to compassionate care. Many of the findings that emerged related to what the student nurses in the study considered as barriers to the provision of compassionate care in this particular type of clinical environment. Six barriers to compassionate care were identified. This article aims to consider them in detail.