Effects of Compassion Fatigue on Patient Care and Nurses

1999 Words8 Pages
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. Population The proposed study with utilise nurses who provide palliative care, intensive care, and psychiatric/mental health/addiction nurses. The population will include both male and female nurses. This population will have at least a ten year experience in their respective duties. Age will not be used as an inclusion/exclusion criterion. Recruitment Participants will be invited through distributing forms within their departments in the hospitals. Once a nurse picks a form, they will be required to fill it and return it in a kiosk which will be set within the hospital facility. These forms will allow participants to determine whether they would wish to participate in the research. Purpose The purpose of the proposed research will be to study will be to describe the pervasiveness of compassion fatigue among a varied spectrum of nurses as well as investigate situations that trigger compassion

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