Compassion Fatigue In Nursing

800 Words2 Pages

Compassion fatigue or caregiver role strain affects nurses on many levels from job satisfaction, decreased productivity, increased employment turnover, as well as, emotional and physical health. Compassion fatigue is a combination of physical, emotional and spiritual depletion. It may develop over time or have a sudden onset and is the result of constant overuse of compassion, caring and being concerned for the welfare of others, whether at work or at home. Ironically, the very reason that most nurses enter the field is to provide empathic, compassionate care for patients with physical and emotional needs. However, there can be a cost to caring, as nurses can become victims of the stress meeting the overwhelming needs of patients and their …show more content…

Fatigue impacts nurses’ ability to focus, impairs the decision-making process, lowers self-esteem and reduces the ability to feel empathy for patients. Management needs to identify risk factors for compassion fatigue and implement a compassion management plan to improve personal well-being, promote a healthy work environment and safe work environment. This article appears in The Journal of Nursing Administration and is intended for nurses and nursing …show more content…

Compassion fatigue and caregiver burnout may be thought of as the same, however, compassion fatigue is treatable, and the onset may come on without warning. Whereas with caregiver burnout the nurse just simply does not have anything left to give. This study contends that oncology, pediatric and general medicine nurses experience the highest level of compassion fatigue. In addition, it points out nurses that have a higher emotional intelligence score and stress management skills reported a decrease in compassion fatigue. Furthermore, asserts that younger nurses experience higher levels of compassion fatigue than do seasoned nurses and women experience higher levels than do men. This article appears in Journal of Nursing Scholarship and is intended for nurses, student nurses and managers.
West, M. M., Wantz, D., Shalongo, G., Campbell, P., Berger, K., Cole, H.,…Cellitti, K. (2017). Evaluation of compassion and resilience in nurses: from evidence-based projects to research findings. Nursing and Palliative Care, 2(4), 1-7.

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