Developing compassion in pre-registration education.

Compassion is a fundamental aspect of nursing and student nurses have to be able to demonstrate compassion in practice. Nurse educators in higher education institutions and clinical settings need to work together to prepare and support student nurses to deliver compassionate care. This article discusses the key components of compassionate care, and how students can be enabled to deliver high-quality care within rapidly changing, complex environments. A second article in this issue explores how nurses can be recruited with the values of the 6Cs (page 12).