COMPASS-H · COMpassionate leadership PAthways for Skills and Systemic impact in Healthcare

Healthcare systems are reaching breaking point: chronic staff shortages, rising burnout and declining patient safety are global problems. The World Health Organization warns of a severe global shortage of nurses. This crisis demands urgent, transformative solutions.The COMPASS-H project provides one such solution. It pioneers the first interdisciplinary, evidence-based curriculum training for compassionate leadership in healthcare education, integrating knowledge from pedagogy, nursing, and organisational and human resource management. Unlike existing fragmented approaches, COMPASS-H will generate a scientifically validated competency framework, comprehensive training programmes and practical toolkits for universities, healthcare organisations and policymakers. The project's mixed methodology — comprising a systematic review, Delphi studies with international experts, and pilot training courses in both the United States and Italy — ensures its findings are robust, transferable, and globally relevant.The expected impacts are significant. COMPASS-H will advance interdisciplinary knowledge at the intersection of education and health sciences, delivering high-quality, open access results. It will enhance the well-being and resilience of healthcare workers, reduce burnout, and improve patient care directly, while promoting inclusive, human-centred organisational cultures. Finally, it will improve staff retention and job satisfaction, thereby reducing staff turnover and the financial burden this places on healthcare systems.Hosted by the University of Brescia and Regis College (USA) in collaboration with the TramutoPorter Foundation and Saint Joseph's College of Maine, COMPASS-H combines rigorous research with global dissemination and stakeholder engagement. By integrating compassionate leadership into the training of future healthcare leaders, the action will address urgent workforce challenges and help to shape the sustainable, resilient, humane healthcare systems.