Accompaniment and Bearing Witness: The Path Through Liminal Spaces in Healthcare

Am J Hosp Palliat Care. 2023 Sep 13:10499091231201599. doi: 10.1177/10499091231201599. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTClinician-healers bear witness to suffering and accompany patients and families through the liminal spaces of an illness experience. Bearing witness to a patient's suffering is a form of attunement toward the ill or hospitalized person. Non-action, or wu wei, becomes illustrative of the empathy that develops as clinicians bear witness to the suffering of patients and families. This empathic response highlights the clinician's moral obligation to accompany their patients. Accompaniment is a form of "co-action" which orients the clinician to a mutual relationship with patients and families. Co-action incites new meaning-making within the liminal spaces and holds the potential to change the clinician's identity as practitioner and healer.PMID:37703501 | DOI:10.1177/10499091231201599
Source: The American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care - Category: Palliative Care Authors: Source Type: research