Kimberly Tozi
Grand Canyon University
Spirituality in Healthcare
HLT-310V-O101
Dr. Todd Fowler
November 17, 2013
Combating Compassion Fatigue These days’ nurses are ‘doing more and more with less resources’. Our profession has been known as being of a co-dependent nature. This nature is not only reflected in our career choice but also frequently in our family management which can place double the stress on the nurse. Demands on nurses can lead to burnout or compassion fatigue. This condition not only prevents nurses from giving their patients the optimal care they deserve but can also result in a very unhappy life for the nurse them self. Nursing must work hard and work constantly …show more content…
“In today’s economy compassion fatigue can be very costly personally and professionally for nurses, and financially for institutions” (Lombardo & Eyre, 2011, para. 31). The patients that are being cared for are not receiving the best care from their disengaged nurse. This leads to decreased patient satisfaction scores and possibly an increase in mistakes. But most of all the patient will not have had the optimal care they deserve. The institution suffers as well. There is the cost of increased rate of turn overs, the decrease in employee satisfaction scores, and the decrease in patient satisfaction scores. Hospitals must now report out on quality indicators such as nursing satisfaction. Just this past year the scores at hour facility dropped on the yearly survey, nurses are getting tired. Patient satisfaction scores are also a huge player now, related to the changes in health insurance. With reimbursements now depending heavily on quality care this should be an area of concern and great work to come for …show more content…
7). There are resources available to us to determine if we might be suffering from Compassion Fatigue. There is a self assessment test nurses can take located at www.compassionfatigue.org. Other resources available are books related to healthy care giving and decreasing personal stress. Nurses can also attend self help meetings geared towards personal joy and taking care of you first. With awareness and knowledge compassion fatigue can be prevented or recognized and managed. Nurses are deeply caring individuals but we can get tired. We must remember to be an advocate for ourselves as well as our patients. This will not only benefit the nurse themselves but ultimately their patients as well, who will receive the best of