Compassion Fatigue and Strategies to Boost Emotional Reserves to Avert It

Working in settings where exposure to traumatic experiences is common makes compassion fatigue a core challenge to nurses’ ability to provide care. In my case, compassion fatigue has always been a likely outcome due to the busy schedule that characterizes my daily work engagement and identification with patients whom I have provided care to for long periods. Nevertheless, ability to identify various resources and coping strategies have made my experiences of compassion fatigue less frequent as they were in my initial stages in the profession.

In most cases, I have found myself on the edge of compassion fatigue when the condition of a patient I have cared for suddenly changes for the worse. Such cases, as Yoder (2010) also contends, are especially fatiguing with regard to patients who I have built a rapport after caring for them for a long period. Another example where compassion fatigue has been a likely outcome has been in times when I have worked in understaffed units. Such understaffing precipitates longer working shifts and frequent overtimes, which, as Lombardo and Eyre (2011) also reinforce, precipitate compassion fatigue. Although I try to find ways to cope with the fatigue, I think sometimes my family and friends can detect when I am in such a state. This is because they are likely to see when I am sad due to the events in my workplace, since at such times I may find it difficult to engage in activities that at other times would be fun.

To enhance my emotional reserves to aver compassion fatigue, I have adopted various practices as I grow in my career. One of these, which also Murphy (2010) identifies, has been to keep a list of activities I enjoy and schedule time to engage in such activities. These have included attending music concerts with my friends, taking vacations with my family, and maintaining my acquaintance with long-term friends. I also purpose to attend to my spiritual needs frequently, including attending fellowships, and scheduling times to do mindful meditation. Keeping a track of these aspects has helped me to have the energy I need to continue providing care and provided me with a better perspective on my life’s purpose.

References

Lombardo, B., & Eyre, C. (2011). Compassion fatigue: A nurse’s primer. OJIN: Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 16(1). Retrieved from http://nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Vol-16-2011/No1-Jan-2011/Compassion-Fatigue-A-Nurses-Primer.html?css=print

Murphy, K. (2010). Combating compassion fatigue. Nursing Made Incredibly Easy, 8(4), 4. doi:10.1097/01.NME.0000382941.55448.75

Yoder, E. A. (2010). Compassion fatigue in nurses. Applied Nursing Research, 23(4), 191-197. doi:10.1016/j.apnr.2008.09.003