Compassion fatigue

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Being a nurse requires the ability to provide continuous care for another person with acute or chronic medical conditions. Providing around the clock care of another can cause emotional and physical strain on the nurses wellbeing and requires many notable traits. The most common and publically expected trait is compassion defined as a “sympathetic consciousness of another’s distress with a desire to alleviate it” (Merriam-Webster dictionary, 2011). A calling, which includes compassion and the desire to nourish, may be a strong motive that leads one to pursue a career in nursing. However, nurses must acquire the mental ability and skills to provide compassionate care in situations that may be contagious, traumatic, painful, and high stress. The nurse must also be prepared to experience stressors outside the realm of patient care. Workplace stressors such as scheduling and demanding nurse patient ratios, along with repeated exposure to the acute hardships of others predisposes caregivers, especially nurses, to develop a unique type of burn out labeled compassion fatigue (Joinson, 1992).

The Professional Issue

Compassion fatigue becomes an issue in nursing when nurses allow themselves to develop an emotional attachment to patients under their care. Sabo (2005), has the opinion that”caring for patients experiencing trauma, pain and suffering, nurses’ health can be profoundly affected, resulting in a phenomenon such as compassion fatigue.” The nature of the unit in which the nurse chooses to work can be a major contributor to the development of compassion fatigue, especially if it is susceptible to negative outcomes, for example critical care or oncology. Caregivers in these specialty units have an increased risk for devel...

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.... Online Journal Of Issues In Nursing, 16(1), 1. doi:10.3912/OJIN.Vol16No01Man02

Bush, N. (2009). Compassion fatigue: are you at risk?. Oncology Nursing Forum, 36(1), 24-28. doi:10.1188/09.ONF.24-28

Joinson, C. (1992). Coping with compassion fatigue. Nursing, 22(4), 116.

Lester, N. (2010). Compassion fatigue. Mental Health Practice, 14(2), 11.

Lombardo, B., & Eyre, C. (2011). Compassion Fatigue: A Nurse's Primer. Online Journal Of Issues In Nursing, 16(1), 1. doi:10.3912/OJIN.Vol16No01Man03

Merriam-Webster Dictionary, (2011). Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/

Sabo, B. (2006). Compassion fatigue and nursing work: can we accurately capture the consequences of caring work?. International Journal Of Nursing Practice, 12(3), 136-142.

The Compassion Fatigue Awareness Project, (2010). Retrieved from http://www.compassionfatigue.org

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