The term compassion fatigue was first introduced in 1992 by Joinson, a nurse, to describe her work environment with emergency room personnel (Sacco, Ciurzynski, Harvey & Ingersoll, 2015). Unknowingly, nurses and other health care workers experience secondary effects related to the tragic events and emotions that their patients endure. The most compelling debate in the reviewed literature was the similarity and distinct differences between burnout and compassion fatigue. The key similarity of burnout and compassion fatigue is that both issues chronically force nurses into demanding coping and adaptation measures (Boyle, 2011). In contrast to compassion fatigue, burnout is defined by workplace stressors such as staffing shortages, conflict among staff members, and intense workloads that with prolonged exposure can cause a nurse to withdraw and neglect responsibilities that can negatively affect patient outcomes (Boyle, 2015). Compassion fatigue arises solely from the experiences between nurses, patients, and their families. With both burnout and compassion fatigue nurses are at risk for feelings of immense failure, guilt, and aggravation. Nurses from multiple specialty areas report having experienced their patient’s emotions on a very high level consistently in their practice and agree that this behavior has resulted in an emotional burden (Fetter 2012; Schroeter, 2014). The reoccurring theme in the literature was for institutions to address compassion fatigue and initiate a professional support system for nurses so they are able to process their grief in a professional manner (Boyle, 2011; Fetter 2012). Without a systematic approach to combating compassion fatigue nurses are becoming unable to respond to the needs of their patients and are emotionally absent in times when they should be expressive and compassionate (Boyle, 2015). Implications for Professional Nursing Practice The occupational hazard that is providing compassionate nursing care until complete exhaustion has become the normal routine in today’s health care industry. …show more content…
Compassion fatigue can be alarming and nurses are struggling to find a place in the health care system to receive help and recognize what this type of nurse stress means while practicing in this profession. The consequences of nurses with prolonged, untreated compassion fatigue have yet to be researched or recognized. Because of this, nurses play a vital role in contributing to the prevention of compassion fatigue within their profession. While the role of a nurse is to put feelings aside to provide urgent care to ill patients it does not mean that their feelings are any different than the average person who experiences tragedy, trauma or death. The most important responsibility of the nursing profession is for all health care institutions to recognize and assess employees for compassion fatigue. By training individuals to recognize a nurse’s affect, coping mechanisms and information processing, health care institutions can safely implement effective interventions unique to that nurse’s assessment (Boyle, 2011). Nurses dealing with compassion fatigue need guidance on effective communication, self-assessment and interventions to assist in recovery. It is also important to incorporate future research as to what scenarios precipitate compassion fatigue and share this among other clinicians to research what could cause symptoms. Illnesses that are directly related to the nursing profession, such as compassion