Creating Learning Environments for Compassionate Care (CLECC)

There is widespread public concern about the lack of compassion in hospital nursing care experienced by older people. This study aims to put CLECC (Creating Learning Environments for Compassionate Care) into practice and do the groundwork needed for a future study to test that it works. CLECC is targeted at registered nurses (RNs) and care assistants (CAs) working in hospitals. CLECC is a nursing practice development programme to promote compassionate care for older hospital patients. Education is often proposed as one solution to the quality problems, but the best approach is not known.

The ward, rather than the classroom, is the main place for learning for staff and the learning is led by a senior nurse for education. CLECC focuses on creating ward manager and nursing team ways of working ( practices ) that support individual RNs and CAs to be compassionate with patients. These team practices include regular discussions on improving compassionate care and responding to patient feedback. Each ward manager/sister attends learning groups with other managers to develop their compassionate care leadership role. Previous research indicates that workplace learning and a focus on ward nursing teams may be most effective, but no research to date has assessed the impact of such programmes on the quality of care. This study aims to begin to address this gap.