Can compassionate healthcare be measured? The Schwartz Center Compassionate Care Scale™

•We describe the psychometrics of an instrument that measures providers' compassion.•Patient ratings of compassionate healthcare are valid and reliable.•Compassion ratings correlate significantly with patient satisfaction.•Ratings correlate specifically with patients' perceptions of emotional support.•Patient ratings of compassionate care can inform assessment and quality improvement.

ObjectiveAssess psychometric characteristics of an instrument to measure patient ratings of treating physicians' compassionate care in a recent hospitalization.MethodsWe used Cronbach's alpha to examine scale reliability, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis to examine scale structure of two sets of items on compassionate care. We used Mokken analysis to determine if items in each set belonged to a unidimensional scale.ResultsResults indicated that both sets of items had strong reliability when used to rate individual physicians (Cronbach's α = .97 and .95). A one factor model was a good fit to both sets of items. Mokken analysis supported unidimensional scales. Both sets of items correlated with an overall measure of patient satisfaction with physicians and even more strongly with an item measuring emotional support.ConclusionsA patient-rated scale reliably measured hospital physicians' compassion and correlated significantly with an item measuring overall patient satisfaction and a specific measure of satisfaction with emotional support. Measurement of compassionate healthcare should be included in research, educational assessment, and quality improvement programs.Practice implicationsClinicians should participate in efforts to enhance their ability to demonstrate compassionate care including eliciting and sharing information and acting collaboratively to ameliorate patients' socioemotional concerns and needs.