Compassion Fatigue and its Affect on Nursing Kelly Kramer Drexel On-Line Compassion Fatigue and its Affects on Nursing Compassion fatigue is a rising issue for nurses working in all specialties of nursing, mainly in critical care. In this paper I will be discussing compassion fatigue, it’s symptoms, how it affects the nursing profession and individual nurses, as well as the hospitals and what untreated compassion fatigue can mean for the future of nursing. Compassion fatigue, also referred to as secondary traumatic stress syndrome, has been defined by Charles Figley as the “natural consequent behaviors and emotions resulting from knowing about a traumatizing event experienced by a significant other – the stress resulting from helping, or wanting to help, a traumatized or suffering person”(Figley, 1995, p. 7). Although compassion fatigue has been studied more in the past 20 years in regards to nursing, there have not been many tools developed to measure the presence of it. There is a general consensus among all the articles that I read regarding the need for more studies, tools to assess and programs at hospitals for nurses.
A clinical placement experienced by the author was on a urology ward within a large teaching hospital where many patients attended for various investigations, elective surgery and emergency surgery into urological related disorders. Accordingly due to the nature of the work area a majority of the patients on the ward had to be catheterised and patients were often discharged home with long-term urethral catheters in situ. As part of the authors experience in developing knowledge and skills observations were under taken into urethral catheter care assessment. The theoretical framework used to guild the nurses in their assessment was that of Roper, Logan and Tierney’s 12 activities of daily living with one of these being that of sexuality. Sadler (1991) suggests that catheter care should be carefully planned and monitored and crisis management avoided.
Assess the likely immediate effects of two different forms of abuse on the health and wellbeing of adults and Evaluate the potential long term effects of these two types of abuse on the health and wellbeing of adults (M1 + D1) I am going to assess and evaluate the long term and short term effects of two types of abuse, they will be Physical and Sexual. Effects are the result of, outcome or impact of something. Immediate effects are straight away/now/instant whereas long-term effects are continuous/ongoing/consistent. Short term effects of Physical abuse are broken bones, bruises, scolds, suspicious bruising - face, head, chest, back, arms, genatalia, thighs, backs of legs and buttocks. Also if the person is hospitalised or needs surgery, poisoned from wrong medication, shock and disbelief.
Ethical Dilemma: Nurses attitudes regarding pain medication Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City Nurses attitudes regarding pain medication Pain is a universal human experience. Since the minute we entered the world we have expected and hopefully have received some type of comfort whenever we would feel pain. Pain is the most subjective of all human responses. The sufferer is the only one who can truly judge the intensity and quality of pain that he or she is experiencing. The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) provides a technical definition of pain, “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage.” (IASP 2008).
There is the disease, which is the pathological changes that occur in one's body, and the illness which consists of the person's experience of the disease. If you only address the medical aspect of a disease and fail to consider the patient's biological/social/psychological needs, you may be overlooking factors that make the condition worse. For example, stress or depression can amplify the intensity of pain, so it is important to address the patient as a whole rather than isolate and treat the pain exclusively. From this perspective, the concept of physical pain, which is the the main source of discomfort (traditionally treated only with analgesics), has lately been approached from an enlarged perspective, a holistic one: the concept of total
Experiencing PTSD After a Traumatic Experience Experiencing a highly traumatic experience can create major psychological issues for people throughout their lives. This is particularly evident when the loss of “one’s own personal identity is directly correlated with the severity of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)” (Collura and Lende 137) and the absence of personal freedom, including control of their environment. Additionally, when people wear uniforms, obey orders, and undergo regular inspections, the chances of recovering completely are greatly diminished. Thus, surprisingly, due to the unique environment of concentration camps and the intense abuse these people suffered “they often have symptoms and problems afterwards” (Carlson
Nancy then explains the hardships that come with living with her disability. She defines multiple sclerosis as being, “…a chronic degenerative disease of the central nervous system" (pg 144). Nancy expresses how her senses and movements; such as vision, hearing, speech, the ability to walk, and control of bladder have, declined. Multiple sclerosis eats away the old nerves and leaves scared and damaged tissue in its place. Since our nervous systems is one of the major systems
To remediate this issue, many researches have been done to find the best methods to better assess pain in elderly population. The pain assessment scales that are being study now by researchers to find if they are effective are visual analog, the numeric rating scale, faces, PAINAD, pain thermometer, GPM 12. One of the biggest barriers to pain management in older patients is how to assess pain effectively, as nurses it is important to find out or know the best methods to assess pain in older clients to make a difference and improve their quality of life. 2. Literature Review: A literature review find 7 pain assessment scales that are being study on whether they are Valid and reliable.
There are many ways to treat chronic joint pain; it is the decision of the patient in cooperation of the patient’s physician to decide which treatment method is the right one for that patient. There are many methods of treatment for chronic joint pain. Joint replacement, therapy, and medication are all ways to manage pain, however; treating the underlying cause is a good place to start (www.rightdiagnosis.com). When a physician and patient both understand fully where the pain is originating from, the task of managing the pain could possibly be easier to accomplish. To treat the underlying cause means to find out the root of where the pain is coming from.
The Framework is to be used by both clients and professionals and identifies targets for both health and social care service providers to assist clients in their daily living requirements. It aims to provide more choice in care, tailored to the individual clients needs. (NSF 2004)This is particularly relevant with Spina Bifida as the condition and its symptoms vary enormously even within the same type and with a lesion in the same place. Often there will be a specialist nurse caring specifically with patients with spina bifida as the NSF aims to have care ‘provided by people with knowledge and experience of specific conditions’ (Lggulden