Compassion Fatigue In Nursing Research

Compassion fatigue is widely known in the health care profession. Nurses working overtime and long working days to provide care for the patient and the patient’s families are a continuous stress on a nurse’s emotional and physical well-being especially if the nurse is providing the patient with end of life care as this contributes to both physical and mental work. Vital

While working in an emergency department (ED), nurses are expected to show compassion even when they are exhausted? Over tired? Over worked? Fatigued? The purpose of this evidence-based practice (EBP) project was to educate ED nurses on compassion fatigue (CF) risk factors, causes, and symptoms as well as assist them in its identification among each other and within themselves. Further, the project sought to provide nurses with skills in order to prevent CF. A two-hour workshop consisting of a PowerPoint presentation was implemented in a busy emergency department on the coast of NJ. Teaching nurses about compassion fatigue and ways in which to alleviate and prevent it were stressed. Self-regulation and self-care practices were introduced using interactive activities. Over the next four weeks, emails were sent reiterating self-care and self-regulatory techniques. A Pretest-posttest design used the Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) measure to determine if burnout and secondary traumatic stress (both components of CF) and compassion satisfaction improved from the workshop. A comparative means analysis showed a decline in CF.

Based on their findings, without intervention, that will equate to a turnover every 2 to 5.4 years. Education and intervention is essential in the prevention of symptoms that lead to compassion fatigue. If education and intervention is not part of an institutions standard process, there will continue to be a high turnover rate in nursing, including Critical Care RN’s. Discussed below are some recent research studies that were conducted to determine the extent of compassion fatigue and interventions used to prevent compassion

Understanding Concept of Narrative Ethics, Patient-Centered Care, Shared Mind and Compassion Fatigue in Nursing Practice

Compassion fatigue is a cumulative process that is affected by interaction with patients and the nurses. Compassion Fatigue was first described by (Joinson, 1992) in a study of burnout in nurses who worked in an emergency department. He recognized that the compassion fatigue include the characters such as chronic fatigue, irritability, dread going to work, aggravation of physical ailments, and a lack of joy in life. (Figley, 2002) later defined compassion fatigue as a state of tension and preoccupation with the individual or cumulative traumas of clients. Compassion fatigue results from paying intensive effort and giving compassion over a prolonged period to those who are suffering, often without experiencing the positive outcomes of seeing patients improve (McHolm, 2006).

Similar to physical exhaustion, emotional exhaustion results from depletion of emotional resources and failure to restore one’s own emotional equilibrium. (Moore, 2009, p. 1) In today’s busy society the demands of life, job and family can be excessive and overwhelming. Combine these demands with the additional stressors of caring for another person or persons, increased demands of productivity with decreased personnel and the unrealistic expectations of one’s self or others and place all of this burden on one person, this would adequately describe the 21st century nurse. Nurses are continually engaged in emotional relationships with patients and their families which call upon the nurse to be in a constant supporting role. One reaches emotional exhaustion when this burden becomes too heavy to carry

The Oxford Dictionary defines caring as the work or practice of looking after, as well as, displaying kindness and concern for those who are unable to care for themselves, especially on account of age or illness. Meanwhile, Avant and Walker (2011) terms caring as an interpersonal process which requires an emotional commitment coupled with willingness to fulfill combined responsibilities and to be trustworthy enough to act on behalf of a person. In essence, it helps in developing great interpersonal relationship between the nurses and the patients in the healthcare centers in a systematic scientific manner.

In many careers especially the field of social work it is easy to feel burnout and compassion fatigue. Burnout and compassion fatigue can be a slippery road for social workers to go down. It is the feeling of mental and emotional exhaustion, frustration, feeling like work has no meaning, and loss of enthusiasm ("Compassion Fatigue | The American Institute of Stress," n.d.). We do not go into the field of social work to absorb everyone’s problems and become engulfed in them, we do it for the satisfaction of being able to help others and to try and make a difference. For this reason it is important that we remember take time for ourselves and become self-aware to prevent burnout and compassion fatigue. If we no longer care about the work that we do and dread going to work each day, it will show and client’s may start to feel that there is no hope. The good thing is that there are warning signs and ways to

Registered nurses have many important roles and responsibilities when involved with the care of a patient. The main roles in nursing care do not change, regardless of whether they work in a small town clinic, a community centre or a large scale hospital. One of the main responsibilities all registered nurses have is to consistently provide high quality, safe and evidence based holistic health care to every one of their patients and to cause no harm. Providing high levels of attention and care on a daily basis for long shifts at a time can be stressful and both physically and emotionally demanding. This can cause nurses to ‘burn out; which has a negative effect on the nurse’s wellbeing and potentially on the care and outcomes of their patients.

As health professionals one of the qualities that we possess is to be empathetic and put ourselves in the place of our patients. In a situation like the one described in the study if the professional is not emotionally prepared to handle this situation where families lose everything, there are homeless and wounded children, we can fall in compassion fatigue. We will stop being empathetic to be a part of the situation and thus lose the perspective of the situation. This condition can occur more frequently in firefighters, police officers, emergency medical technicians and rescuers are those who arrive first to the disaster area. This research aimed to analyze how exposed is the nurse to present the compassion fatigue , the use of both methods

Compassion fatigue seems to be an epidemic in the health care profession. Since nursing, more specifically, can be high paced and full of stress, there is high risk for compassion fatigue. Kelly, Runge, & Spencer (2015) argue that compassion fatigue is “the combination of burnout and secondary traumatic stress” (p.523). Hunsaker, Chen, Maughan, & Heaston (2014) describe compassion fatigue as “feelings of hopelessness and apathy” (p. 187), which interferes with the ability to perform

Compassion fatigue and burnout is a burgeoning area of interest primarily due to its adverse effects on a nurses’ health, productivity, and patient care. Despite the literature on nursing burnout and compassion fatigue, the lived experiences of nurses have virtually been ignored. According to Thomas & Wilson (2004), compassion fatigue is the stress, strain, and weariness of caring for others who are suffering from a medical illness or psychological problem” (p. 82). In contrast, burnout is a accumulation of stress due to the repetitive demands of daily life, a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion caused by a depletion of the ability to cope with one’s environment, particularty the work environment (Maslach, 1982). Burnout more often point to environment stressors, whereas definitions of compassion fatigue address the relational nature of the condition.Increasing and unresolved stress leads to compassion fatigue, it is the accumulation of fatigue that leads to a state of exhaustion and

Although nursing is a varied profession, compassion fatigue is experienced across all specialties and is a relatively new acknowledgement of symptoms. “Compassion fatigue is the term used to describe a combination of burnout and secondary traumatic stress. Burnout is composed of three constructs: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and diminishing ones accomplishments” Maslach, Schaufeli & Leiter, (2001). On the contrary and not thoroughly studied is compassion satisfaction. “While CF describes some of the occupational hazards of nursing, compassion satisfaction (CS) encompasses the pleasure of gratitude that develops from caregiving for patients” (Simon, Pryce, Roff & Klemmack 2005). This term of compassion satisfaction is interchangeable

Compassion fatigue is a problem in caregiving professions, including nursing, and even more specifically critical care nursing. The effects can be detrimental to the nurse and to the care provided to patients. While attempting to enhance a patient’s quality of life, nurses may not even realize that their own quality of life may be at stake. (pg 17).

Compassion fatigue is a term that defines how nurses will often ignore their own emotions and feelings in order to care for others. The term also defines the nurse that is worn down, angry, distressed, and