Compassion Fatigue: The Next Pandemic to Impact Nursing

Compassionate care has long been the cornerstone of nursing practice. Compassion fatigue (CF) is stress resulting from exposure to a traumatized individual. With its far reach, CF has the ability to impact health care workers in every area of practice. Whether in academia, healthcare leadership, clinical practice or research, this phenomenon has the power to change you without you even knowing. Compassion fatigue, much like the Covid-19 pandemic has the potential to have a devastating national impact on the wellbeing of patients and caregivers. This article will provide knowledge to nursing leaders on how to educate and protect their staff, themselves and other members of the healthcare team from falling victim to this phenomenon.

The impact of CF resonates through the healthcare system as a contributor to the global nursing shortage. Within the healthcare worker population, the nursing profession is the most prevalent and contrarily has the greatest shortage according to the World Health Organization (WHO). As of 2017, there were 20.7 million nurses worldwide, encompassing virtually half of the healthcare worker population. In 2030, there is a prediction that there will be a global nursing shortage of 7.6 million (WHO, 2017). This severe nursing workforce crisis coupled with an overburdened healthcare system and CF pandemic impacting those nurses who are left at the bedside can have a calamitous effect on global health.

The million dollar question becomes, how do we protect healthcare givers from being struck by compassion fatigue leading to burnout and subsequently leading to good people leaving the healthcare workforce at alarming rates. The answer is simple, we teach them how to reconnect and stay connected with their personal ‘why’ into the field of healthcare. 

We remind them of the things about the job that makes their heart sing and we create space with intention for people to stay grounded and connected with that as a way to combat compassion fatigue and burnout.

Healthcare is not for the faint or weak-hearted. It is extremely difficult for human beings to choose a profession where they bear witness to human suffering each and every day but somehow manage to find meaning in their work. I am a firm believer that with intentionality, it can be done. Empathy and compassion is truly the heart and soul of healthcare and without it, people will have a difficult time healing. We cannot cure every ailment that patients present with, however we can introduce and allow space for healing by simply creating a safe haven for patients where they feel accepted, protected and seen.

The Covid-19 pandemic showed us that trust is a very important paradigm when it comes to the delivery of healthcare. Patients must trust doctors, doctors must trust patients, and healthcare workers must trust each other to get through. Trust and connection with one’s purpose and meaning in the work they do will be the anecdote that allows us to eradicate this pandemic of compassion fatigue that threatens our healthcare system today.