Compassion Fatigue: A Case Study

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Intense exposure to work stress factors negatively impacts on the psychological well-being of nurses. The most commonly reported consequence of occupational stress are compassion fatigue and burnout. Compassion Fatigue (CF), also known as vicarious traumatisation, is the physical/emotional state of distress experienced from the performance of care over patients suffering from pain, resulting to physical, emotional and spiritual exhaustion, cynicism and a low sense of personal accomplishment. CF is associated with secondary traumatic stress syndrome STS caused by fear and work-related trauma. It decreases productivity, increases staff turnover and sick days, and may cause loss of empathy, emotional breakdown, patient dissatisfaction and patient safety risks. Incessant CF leads to STS and burnout. …show more content…
Burnout occurs when a person cannot attain a projected goal causing frustration and a perceived loss of control. Individuals experiencing this share a lack of decision latitude which collectively causes moral distress among nurses. Burnout incidence range of 54% to 32% were found by a study of more than 10,000 nurses from five different countries, while another international study reported that 42% of the nurses tested described themselves as ‘burned out’ making it one of the leading causes of work-related stress and mental health conditions that lead to impaired work performance, high turnover and absenteeism. It is therefore important to adopt strategies that undertake the consequences of CF and burnout as well as build up self-resilience among