or she is in an interaction with a patient. The acronym G.R.A.C.E. refers to gathering attention;
recalling intention; attunement to self and other; considering what will truly serve the patient; and
finally, ethically engaging, enacting, and ending the interaction.
1. Gathering attention: A/A Axis: Attentional Domain; focus, grounding, balance
2. Recalling intention: A/A Axis, I/I Axis: Affective/Cognitive Domain: the resource of motivation
3. Attuning to self/other: A/A Axis: Affective Domain: resonance
4. Considering: I/I Axis: Cognitive Domain: insight/discernment: what will serve
5. Engaging: E/E Axis: Somatic Domain: ethical enactment, ending
The reason that I developed this short intervention is that clinicians often need a direct, simple and
efficient way to remember to open to their patient’s experience and to keep grounded as they
presence the suffering of others (and themselves), and they endeavor to find a compassionate
path through complex clinical situations.
In the script that follows, my clinical colleagues, Dr. Tony Back, a medical oncologist and
communications specialist, Dr. Cynda Rushton, Professor of Nursing and Clinical Ethicist at Johns
Hopkins University, and I created a text that endeavors to guide a clinician into priming compassion
as they encounter a patient. The text is a guide for clinicians in bringing forward the elements of the
compassion model described above. The text can be modified as appropriate to each individual
and each situation.
476
