Compassion Fatigue Analysis

Health providers suffer from an emotional problem called compassion fatigue. Often times compassion fatigue occurs do to the situations encountered by health care professionals and the pain they feel for the patients they care for. One of the essential components of health care is providing care is compassion

Healthcare providers are at increased risk for compassion fatigue (CF), which has also been called secondary traumatic stress, second hand shock syndrome, secondary stress reaction, and vicarious trauma (ABA, 2011). Compassion fatigue begins to become an issue when caregivers give too much of themselves to others and neglect to provide for their own needs. Neglecting one’s personal needs can be harmful, leading to destructive behaviors and patterns, such as over indulgence and increased sick calls. Over time the provider has a decreased ability to show compassion. This paper will discuss and describe compassion fatigue, warning signs of compassion fatigue, and discuss recovery options for those suffering from compassion fatigue.

Potter, P., Deshields, T., Berger, J.A., Clarke, M., Olsen, S., & Chen, L. (2013). Evaluation of a compassion fatigue resiliency program for oncology nurses. Oncology Nursing Forum 40(2), 180-187.

New workers in the health care role are often excited, energetic, and ready to take on whatever comes at them. Little do they know compassion fatigue is nipping at their heels. Compassion fatigue is common among health care providers and consists of five major concepts. These five concepts are ambiguity, no-win situations, role overload, role conflict, and not being adequately recognized. Researching concepts of compassion fatigue looks at the nature and causes along with the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. To deal with and cope there needs to be strategies and resources that can be utilized to keep from burnout.

When a counselor or Therapist work in agencies they need have a wellness plan in place to prevent these types of symptoms from being over worked with limited support available to delegate other responsibilities of their workload to others. Since agencies may put the counselor or psychotherapist at a higher risk due to emotional exhaustion. A state of isolation and detachment causes a person to experience compassion fatigue when counselors or psychotherapists constantly interact with clients who experience distress. Compassion fatigue impede on a counselor’s empathy which causes them to extreme

Oxford Dictionary defines compassion as the sharing in another’s suffering, and fatigue as extreme tiredness after exertion (2010). Understanding the definitions of the concept’s individual components illustrates the cause and effect relationship that is the precursor to CF. A concept analysis by Knobloch-Coetzee and Klopper (2010), defined CF as the culmination of gradual and aggregated contact with patients who require personal self-giving, in stressful environments, for extended periods, without time for emotional recovery. CF evolves from an initial state of compassion discomfort that over time, depletes emotional energy reserves, and eventually surpasses the nurse’s endurance levels. CF is a complete inability to recover emotionally (2010). A study focused on social workers and CF defined the concept as, a limited ability to show interest, express empathy, or bear the suffering of clients, deriving from the instinctual emotional response, born from the awareness of a client’s traumatizing life experience (Adams, Boscarino, & Figley, 2004). In a study of the experience of CF in ER nurses versus other specialty units, CF is defined as the predictable, natural, treatable, and preventable, unwanted emotional consequence of working with suffering people (Hooper, et al, 2010).

Compassion fatigue is the combination of physical, emotional, and spiritual depletion associated with caring for patients in significant emotional pain and physical distress (Anewalt, 2009; Figley, 1995). It is something that can happen to any nurse being overwhelmed in one or more areas of life and/or work. There are multiple ways a nurse can cope with compassion fatigue, and the article gives two great case studies. The first is of the reactive nurse who ultimately runs away from her issues but never truly fixes why she had the fatigue at all. The second is of a proactive nurse who used the resources provided to pull out of the fatigue and ended up in a better position because of it. Some keys points are made about

“Compassion fatigue” is the more recent term used to describe secondary stress reactions among those who are empathically engaged with others who are traumatized or suffering. It is very closely related to the idea of vicarious trauma (Figley, 2002b; Stamm, 2009) and has been suggested as a substitute term for “secondary traumatic stress disorder” because it is thought to be less stigmatizing to the professional (Figley,

summary, a fair amount of research has been conducted on burnout and compassion fatigue. it is important to understand the individual factors that lead to the development of burnout and compassion fatigue. Another purpose is to understand whether or not the experience of STS is limited only to those who have direct contact with individuals who are experiencing trauma symptoms. Additionally, most literature that discusses coping with compassion fatigue focuses on self-care techniques rather than on an effective style of cognitive appraisal. Common assumptions are that effective coping styles for healthcare workers will generalize to the mental health field. The present study also aims to identify a coping profile indicating whether or not a

With compassion fatigue being a fairly new concept in the nursing profession, the urgency to gain knowledge on this topic is imperative as documented cases of suffering are on the rise. Merriam-Webster (2018) defines compassion as the sympathetic consciousness of other’s distress together with a desire to alleviate it. Notably, compassion is foundational in nursing which makes the definition essential. According to Kelly and Todd (2017), compassion fatigue is both a psychological and physiological response to chronic emotional and interpersonal stresses that affect those in the Caregiving profession. Influenced by direct patient care, nurses are predisposed to physical and emotional distress (Melvin, 2015). Furthermore, this concept is greater defined by Christina Melvin as an exhaustion to those exposed to “seriously ill, traumatized,

The conditions, which affect a counselor burnout and compassion fatigue stem from either the environment or setting the counselor works in. “The implications of counselor burnout and compassion fatigue arise from the environment, counselor working conditions, and perceptions of personal resources or physical /mental breakdowns causing the problem”(Thompson, Amatea Thompson, 2014).. Similar implications are employee related consisting of counseling practitioners, supervisors, and educators known reactors, which sometimes creates a stressful or non-supportive environment.

Caregiving has its tolls on caregivers. One of this may be compassion fatigue. Compassion fatigue is a consequence of caring for individuals who are in need or suffering which may affect the caregiver physically, emotionally, mentally, and socially. The characteristics of compassion fatigue have been studied extensively among health care professionals, and recent studies suggest that this phenomenon may also be applicable to informal or family caregivers. Given this, the study focused on the applicability, characteristics, and level of compassion fatigue among parents of children with special needs.

The nurse participants revealed a broad range of emotional and physical symptoms of compassion fatigue and burnout. The majority of nurses were able to recognize early signals of compassion fatigue. Almost all of the nurses associated fatigue and lack of energy as leading indicators of compassion fatigue. Participants described thirty two different triggers. Most of the triggers were work related, and about one fourth was personal triggers. The triggers were divided into four categories; triggers related to caring for children

For my paper, I chose to write about an act of compassion I received this past week. My act of compassion that I received was one I got a work, it was around 11 pm, as I was getting ready to leave I noticed a woman who had dropped some of her items from her cart, I proceeded to help her load her items back onto the cart, she thanked me. After a few minutes, I began having a conversation with this woman, she mentioned that I was very friendly and great at giving advice towards her business that she was planning to open on Saturday. Although I gave little to no advice (Just agreed with what she said.) she mentioned she had felt very grateful to have someone there to listen to what she was saying and have faith in what she was doing.

The team had a valid development strategy. Based on the guidelines, Andreotta (2013) informed that the topic was clinically important for nurses providing high-quality care for pediatric patients. Moreover, Andreotta (2013) noted signs of compassion fatigue – negativism, emotional, and physical exhaustion – disabling nurses in offering quality patient care. Also, in light of multiple studies showing improvement in nurses’ reduction of compassion fatigue from modifying work-environment and self-care skills, Andreotta (2013) led her team, through systematic reviews of literature, to find the most effective intervention in decreasing nurses’ compassion fatigue to improve the quality of patient care.