• Susan Bauer-Wu and Dorrie Fontaine.
• Compassionate Care Initiative, University of Virginia School of Nursing Charlottesville, United States (Dr Bauer-Wu).
• Glob Adv Health Med. 2015 Sep 1;4(5):16-22.

BackgroundWorking in healthcare is increasingly challenging for nurses, physicians, and other health professionals. Ongoing high stress takes a toll on clinicians and interferes with the quality of their patient care. Fostering clinician wellbeing needs to be a priority; if not, the human and financial consequences are significant.ObjectiveTo describe the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Nursing's Compassionate Care Initiative (CCI) as an example of an organizational case study that is engaged in multipronged efforts to cultivate a resilient healthcare workforce committed to high-quality, compassionate, relationship-based care.MethodsThis case report describes the development, implementation, and evaluation of the CCI at UVA. Various elements of the program are reviewed, which include harnessing talents and interests of the larger institution in the establishment of Compassionate Care Ambassadors, outreach to the community, innovative student-specific educational activities, and a national media program.ConclusionThe UVA CCI is a successful model of an organizational effort to promote clinician wellbeing and resilience. Aspects from this program can be adapted to other organizations that are committed to addressing this critical issue in US healthcare today.

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