The use of the pain assessment tool will assist in developing the plan of care for the patients. It will also assist nurses in the management strategies to treat and alleviate pain. A CINAHL search yielded two articles that were both peer reviewed and published by the Nursing Standard. One article in the Nursing Standard discussed how pain assessment tools are developed and implemented for use in patients with limited verbal communication abilities in acute care settings. These limited verbal communication abilities includes learning disabilities and language impairment.
Introduction Compassion fatigue has already been identified as a combination of emotional, physical, and spiritual depletion which is associated with the caring of patients in significant physical distress and emotional pain. Although the literature is awash with a lot of definitions of compassion fatigue, Joinson (1992), gave the first definition of this concept during her service in the emergency room. She identified that compassion fatigue was a rare form of burnout that usually affects individuals in care-giving roles. The proposed research paper will investigate the effects of compassion fatigue on patient care and care-givers. Objectives The aims of the proposed research will be: 1) To investigate whether compassionate fatigue influences the overall quality patient care, 2)To establish the need of structuring appropriate and multi-faceted interventions to combat compassion fatigue, 3) To establish the risk factors associatedwith compassion fatigue.
Nurses are at risk of not caring due to compassion fatigue. Compassion fatigue is described as “a complex emotion that allows care-givers to hold and sustain themselves in emotional balance while holding patients’ despair in one hand and their hopefulness in the other (Bush, 2009, pg. 25). In this paper, the author will discuss warning signs for five concepts of compassion fatigue, the nature of the problems and their causes, the needs of the caregiver, and coping strategies and resources for those suffering from compassion fatigues. Warning Signs for Five Concepts of Compassion Fatigue Physical Manifestations Compassion fatigue can manifest itself through physical symptoms.
Combating Compassion Fatigue Grand Canyon University Foundations of Spirituality in Health Care HLT-310V Emory Davis September 13, 2013 Combating Compassion Fatigue Compassion Fatigue has been described as the “cost of caring” for others in emotional and physical pain. According to Figley, caregivers who have an inherent ability to care with compassion and express empathy are at the greatest risk for compassion fatigue when continuously faced with grief and loss. Compassion fatigue is a progressive and cumulative process that is influenced by three factors: interaction with patients, the nurse's use of their own resources, and exposure to stress (Coetzee, S. K., & Klopper, H. C. (2010). Compassion fatigue is divided into three stages. The first stage is compassion discomfort which can be reversed by rest and may include exhaustion, decreased enthusiasm, and weakening attention.
What other options or resources were open/available to you? My clinical coach served as an excellent resource person to me. 5. What did you learn from this situation/what would you do if this situation arose again? I learned how important it is to assess patients’ pain thoroughly and to identify the site and pain intensity.
The nurse health educator posted copies of my teaching tool for the people to take at each clinic. The tool was well received by all because it was easy to understand and made sense. Each flu clinic had its own voice of concern. Most residents who resided in the assisted living community were able to sign for themselves, and had no real questions in regards to the flu vaccine in its entirety however, this patient population was concerned about the cost. The concern that was voiced;” Does Medicare still pay for the flu shot?” Information was provided on how Medicare was billed and most residents were satisfied with the answer.
As Dr. Campinha-Bacote constructed model, it evolved five different areas: cultural awareness, cultural knowledge, cultural skills, Cultural encounters, and Cultural desire. In this paper I will further demonstrate my understanding of the cultural competence in the above aspects. Cultural awareness, has been described as “the deliberate cognitive process in which healthcare providers become appreciative and sensitive to the values, beliefs, life ways, practices, and problem solving strategies of clients’ cultures” ( Camphina-Baconte, P204). In this process, health care provider, conduct self-examination of one’s own biases towards other cultures and the in-depth exploration of one’s cultural and professional background. The example of the process in this course was that on the assignment # 2, Exploring Your Cultural Background.
Secondly, the use official statistics is a very cheap method for a sociologist to use because it doesn’t cost them anything as the information is already gathered and there for most people to use and look at. The only time where official statistics may not be available is in a schools data network as pupil data is confidential so the sociologist may not be able to access this data. Thirdly, the sociologist can gather very large samples of data which can help their investigation be quite representative, as the higher the sample number the more it represents the population being studied. Patterns and trends can also be measured with a large sample size and can be put into graphs and categorised. They can also be used to test hypothesis via the use of triangulation.
This paper will discuss the five concepts of compassion fatigue. Also, the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of the caregiver will be addressed, along with examples of coping strategies and resources to be used by the nurse facing compassion fatigue. Warning signs of five concepts of compassion fatigue There are five concepts of compassion fatigue to be aware of, which are the physical, emotional, cognitive, behavioral and spiritual warning signs. Physical To be healthy, the human body needs to be maintained and taken care of to work properly. The basic needs of the body such as rest, exercise and nutrition are important for it to function.
Dr. Charles Figley, PhD director of the Florida State University Traumatology Institute is a leader in the field of compassion fatigue and burnout. He defines compassion fatigue as “a state of tension and preoccupation with the personal or cumulative trauma of clients as manifested in one or more ways: (1) re-experiencing the traumatic events (2) avoidance/numbing of reminders of the traumatic event, and (3) persistent arousal. It is absorbing and retaining the emotional suffering of others in interaction with other experiences, past and present” (Bishop). Dr. Figley defines burnout as: “a state of extreme dissatisfaction with one’s clinical practice characterized by (1) excessive distancing from clients, (2) impaired competence, (3) low energy, (4) increased irritability with supporters, and (5) other signs of impairment and depression resulting from individual, social, work, environmental, and society factors” (Bishop). Nurses always experience compassion fatigue compared to other health care professionals due to direct patient care and they spend more time with the patients compared to others.