These people include ‘first responders,’ or those in helping professions who are on the front lines witnessing the tragedies of others. These professionals include fire fighters, police, paramedics, and in this case, nurses.
Compassion Fatigue
In simplest form, compassion fatigue usually implies a state of cognitive exhaustion (Sabo 2006). In detail, the definition of compassion fatigue is known as being a combination of physical, emotional, and spiritual weakening associated with caring for patients in significant emotional pain and physical distress (Anewalt 2009; Figley, 1995). Hearing and witnessing horrific stories of abuse and other traumas has been shown to be very stressful and trauma experts have found that self-care techniques, both psychological and somatic, can reduce susceptibility to the internalization of traumatic stress