Intensive Care, Outpatient Surgery, Aesthetics, Education, and Nursing Leadership
Caring for people day in and day out can not only be physically exhausting, but it can take an emotional toll on us, too.
The Journal of Perinatology defines compassion fatigue as “distress experienced by caregivers from ongoing contact with patients who are suffering.”
Founder of the Traumatology Institute at Tulane University, Charles R. Figley, Ph.D., further defines the term as being, “when others take on the suffering of patients who have experienced extreme stress or trauma.”
This concept was originally coined in the healthcare field by Carla Joinson, when she noticed that nurses were losing their “ability to nurture,” as a result of continuous heartbreak from caring for sick and dying patients.
Currently, out of the 3.8 million RNs in the U.S., Oncology Nursing News estimates that nearly 16 to 38% suffer from compassion fatigue symptoms.
Whether it is recognized in the moment or not, constant patient loss can take a tremendous toll on healthcare providers; and unfortunately, compassion fatigue is one of the most common outcomes.
If you are in the healthcare profession, it is vital that you begin to recognize the compassion fatigue symptoms or red flags not only for yourself, but also for your colleagues; it could truly make all the difference.
In my experience, this is very real.
The empathetic, big hearts that compel those to pursue a career in caregiving puts them at risk for developing compassion fatigue. They can eventually become numb to their patient’s suffering.
Are you a nurse who has experienced compassion fatigue symptoms?
Mental health resource, GoodTherapy, highlights several signs compassion fatigue symptoms that you should be aware of when working in the healthcare setting. These include:
Although some of these may seem ambiguous or similar to symptoms of other various conditions, compassion fatigue can be detrimental to the quality of care delivered to patients and can impact a healthcare provider significantly both in and outside of the workplace.
The American Psychological Association (APA) offers various routes you can take to ensure that you and/or your colleagues are not only addressing your compassion fatigue symptoms but also overcoming them. Check them out:
Looking to reduce stress levels by practicing self-care? There are so many ways to do this! Facilities that need healthcare providers will typically begin a partnership with a staffing agency in order to have ‘more hands-on deck.’
If you break your agreement, this puts one less person on the schedule; and in nursing, this can make a huge difference in patient care delivery.
Mental health and self-compassion expert, Kristin Neff, defines self-compassion as:
Practicing self-compassion can truly change your outlook and help to better understand yourself and your own stressors.
Joining support groups, staying connected to family or friends, or confiding in a colleague are all great examples!
Although this can be a challenge, directing your thoughts to focus on the good and not the bad is vital in preventing compassion fatigue. Trust me.
Familiarity with the concept of compassion fatigue, along with the signs and symptoms, allows nurses and other care giving providers to recognize the concept within themselves and amongst their colleagues.
Therefore, the first step in reducing compassion fatigue is to acknowledge its existence.
Mental health resource, GoodTherapy, highlights several signs compassion fatigue symptoms that you should be aware of when working in the healthcare setting. These include:
Although some of these may seem ambiguous or similar to symptoms of other various conditions, compassion fatigue can be detrimental to the quality of care delivered to patients and can impact a healthcare provider significantly both in and outside of the workplace.
Nursing burnout is often mistaken for compassion fatigue. Burnout consists of physical, emotional, and psychological components; however, compassion fatigue is a factor that leads to nursing burnout and is completely different.
According to Nursingcenter.com, compassion fatigue and burnout are loosely related; however, they can be very different. The article reads, “nurses must possess compassion to experience the fatigue of it. In contrast, those experiencing burnout need not have the prerequisite of compassion.”
Unfortunately, many healthcare institutions do anything to address or acknowledge the issue of compassion fatigue among their staff, nor do they discuss or provide interventions to assist with the issue.
It is vital that members of a healthcare team understand not only compassion fatigue symptoms, but the impact they can have on patients, facilities, and their colleagues.
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