The SCQ-ED: Validated across 14 Emergency Departments

In what is arguably our most groundbreaking study yet, we examined the role that compassion plays on quality care ratings among patients visiting 14 emergency departments (ED), while also validating the SCQ-ED (Sinclair Compassion Questionnaire—Emergency Department).

The open access article that involved over 4500 Emergency Department patients validated the SCQ-ED, allowing healthcare providers, organizational leaders, and system analysts to assess compassion on a routine basis. The validity and reliability of the SCQ-ED (α=.98) adds to our growing family of compassion measures spanning patient populations, care settings, and languages including French, Spanish, and Mandarin—with other validation studies and translations under way. The SCQ not only enhances our understanding of quality care but also provides the means to monitor and improve compassion within healthcare settings. Moving forward, the integration of compassion into standard patient surveys and healthcare practices is crucial, facilitating equitable care across diverse patient populations.

Compassion: The Greatest Predictor of Patients Overall Quality Care Ratings

The results of the hierarchical linear multiple regression are even more compelling and potentially game changing indicating that of 21 included variables, compassion most strongly predicted overall quality care ratings (b=1.61, 95% CI 1.53-1.69, p<.001, f2=.23), explaining 19% unique variance beyond all other measures. In short, compassion was the greatest predictor of quality care ratings by a large margin—surpassing other traditional factors of quality care such as wait times, clinical communication, and pain and symptom management.

Essentially, what this means is that we now have convincing evidence that compassion is a central pillar of the patient experience and a core component of quality care ratings. In other words, if we want to transform the quality of healthcare being delivered in our healthcare systems—compassion can no longer be overlooked and perhaps should even be considered a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) within healthcare systems that are increasingly fixated on efficiencies and economics.

Inequities and Disparities in Experiences of Compassion

The study also revealed concerning disparities among demographic groups. One-way ANOVAs indicated significant demographic differences in mean compassion scores, such that women (vs. men) reported lower compassion (MD=-.15, 95% CI=-.21, -.09, p<.001), and Indigenous (vs. White) patients reported lower compassion (MD=-.17, 95% CI =-.34, -.01, p=.03). While in principle compassion is unconditional, there seems to be a gap in practice. This suggests a need to not only understand how compassion is diversely experienced across gender and culture groups, but to address the interpersonal and system barriers that inhibit some individuals from accessing the compassion they need and deserve.

Compassion—patients want it, healthcare providers desire to provide it, healthcare systems need to measure and enhance it. We now have the evidence and a robust measure to do so. But are we willing to measure compassion as a core component of the patient experience and to treat it as a KPI in our healthcare system? Compassion is Action!

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