Combating Compassion Fatigue - Essay Example

Combating Compassion Fatigue al Affiliation Combating Compassion Fatigue Compassion fatigue can be described as a type of burnout that starts suddenly and without warning. However, it is more pervasive when compared to burnout. Compassion fatigue happens because of much or prolonged periods of being exposed to traumatic events (Bush, 2009). Nurses have a long history of witnessing different tragedies because of the nature of their work that is specifically to receive and care for patients some with mild illnesses while others with serious illnesses. They even see people die in front of them. These traumas make their work difficult and expose them to compassion fatigue. There are five concepts of compassion fatigue that include emotional, somatic, cognitive, behavioral and spiritual concepts. All these concepts have certain warning signs to show that one is in the brink of experiencing compassion fatigue. With respect to the cognitive concept, warning signs include decrease in self-esteem, poor judgment, short attention span, disordered thinking, forgetfulness and disinterest in introspection. Generally, this means that the mental ability of a caregiver to perform their duties decreases. One’s colleagues will notice a reduced work rate and a form of laziness or disinterest in normal activities and a lot of negativity around the working environment. With respect to emotional concept, the warning signs could include distancing oneself from others, expressing anger to work situations, becoming apathetic, having a desire to leave nursing, going into depression and experiencing irritability. Here, a nurse feels that the normal responsibilities have become a burden and does not need such issues. In terms of the behavioral concept, the warning signs could include unresponsiveness, indifference, callousness, isolation and avoidance of emotionally charged situations. A nurse experiences a change in behavior in response to normal events or situations at the work place and acts like he or she is not in the right work environment even if they have worked there for years (Bush, 2009). With respect to the somatic concept, an individual will experience warning signs such as headaches, exhaustion, becoming accident-prone, becoming susceptible to infection and having difficulty in sleeping. Individuals feel physically exhausted and drained to the extent that they feel pain such as headaches, sweating, rapid heartbeat and dizziness among others. They may not respond normally to their normal duties because of the above symptoms. In respect to spiritual concepts, an individual will feel laziness to conduct normal spiritual functions or activities such as praying, avoidance of going to places of worship and showing a general feeling of distancing themselves from spiritual activities. One questions the meaning of life and shows pervasive hopelessness, loss of faith and questions his or her religious beliefs. The above warning signs are seen in different concepts of compassion fatigue but are related to each other because compassion fatigue occurs combining the concepts all together. However, one may not experience all the above warning signs but some of them (Boyle, 2011). As already stated, compassion fatigue occurs in caring professionals who have absorbed the traumatic stress that they experience when helping patients or service users. Compassion fatigue can attack any health care professional other than the nurses. For example, first responders who work in front lines to help patients witness the tragedies of others. This could include first aid givers, fire workers and the police. The main cause of compassion fatigue is empathy. It occurs from natural stress that results from the care and help that caregivers exercise towards their patients. The problem involves a preoccupation with an individual and his trauma. Compassion fatigue is triggered by situations where nurses feel that their actions cannot make a difference for the patient or are never enough for the service user. Other scenarios include where nurses experience problems with the system in terms of heavy patient assignments, low nurse numbers, and issues of inexperience of inadequate energy and where a nurse overlooked serious patient symptoms and led to a serious issue. The source of compassion fatigue is trauma that sees a nurse through compassion discomfort, to stress and finally compassion fatigue. The caregiver has certain needs to be able to function in environments where care is much needed, for instance in hospitals. These include physical, emotional and spiritual needs. Care giving could have a serious effect on one’s health even if one has no prior medical problems. Poor eating, prolonged stress and lack of sleep can create problems for a caregiver and put them at risk of injury. As such, to maintain physical health, a caregiver needs a balanced diet, a well-arranged eating routine, staying away from fatigue by ensuring enough sleep and rest, doing exercises and has time for recreational activities such as listening to music or storytelling (Boyle, 2011). Because a caregiver’s time, attention and energy are focused to the patient, he or she might feel neglected because the concern for the patient may make nurses, family members, doctors, friends and other people to overlook a caregiver’s situation. However, one needs to attend to his or her emotional needs by first paying attention to personal feelings. This means that one should care for his or her loved ones to ensure that they still have the right emotions for people who matter and also the feelings of oneself for instance in the care giving career. One should avoid anxiety by avoiding worrying a lot, overcome anger by controlling his or her emotions and understanding the situation at hand by looking at facts (Bush, 2009). One needs to express his or her feelings to avoid stress. The spiritual needs of a caregiver may mean faith or whatever provides a sense of personal meaning in life. When caregivers such as nurses deal with patients, they need spiritual values with them because they help one to deal with concerns present and help in ensuring that there is growth from the experiences that one encounters in the work environment (Boyle, 2011). There are several strategies used to cope with compassion fatigue. However, it is true to state that majority of nurses give care but do not find time or the chance to nurture or care for himself or herself. Mostly, they wait until a crisis occurs that they remember to address their needs. This must change because it makes them prone to compassion fatigue. The most important aspect in coping with compassion fatigue is to plan to have work/life balance that ensures nurses can invest energy and time in caring for themselves as well as care for others. It could be effective for nurses to care for themselves to be able to care for others (Ekedahl & Wengström, 2008). First, nurses must get an awareness of the problems of compassion fatigue because they came because of lack of communication skills. Nurses have to know how to communicate their feelings and physical set up. Therefore, education will enable them learn basic communication and self-care skills that will help them identify their personal problems and coping strategies, communicate their feelings and problems better and resolve personal and interpersonal problems. Health practitioners need to create an environment, such as nurses where employees can communicate and can get mutual support (Ekedahl & Wengström, 2008). Work place setting must be done in such a way that it addresses the emotional, physical and intellectual strain on nurses. For example, there should be workplace counseling, support groups and de-briefing sessions where nurses can come and talk about their successes and frustrations. Healthcare professionals especially nurses should have training on how to recognize the symptoms and manage burnout and compassion fatigue. Care institutions should treat their employees, such as nurses well, for example through reward effort and offer flexible working hours so that nurses and other healthcare givers can take breaks when tired. The most important aspect must be stress management for health care practitioners to avoid compassion fatigue (Ekedahl & Wengström, 2008). References Boyle, D. (2011). Countering compassion fatigue: a requisite nursing agenda. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 16(1). Bush, N. J. (2009, January). Compassion fatigue: are you at risk?. In Oncology Nursing Forum (Vol. 36, No. 1, pp. 24-28). Oncology Nursing Society. Ekedahl, M., & Wengström, Y. (2008). Coping processes in a multidisciplinary healthcare team– A comparison of nurses in cancer care and hospital chaplains. European Journal of Cancer Care, 17(1), 42-48. Read More