Compassion Fatigue Essay -- Health, Nursing

Title compassion get intoAccording to Taylor (2008) the commentary of nurse is from the meaning of the Latin word nutrix, which means to nourish. treat has a focus of caring for every patient physically, emotionally, socially and spiritually. To dally the needs of every patient, nurses must pick out on many roles, save the main role being anxiety giver (Taylor, 2008, p.14). Caring for another(prenominal) person requires many traits, and the most common is compassion. The definition of compassion is likeable consciousness of anothers distress with a desire to salve it (Merriam-Webster dictionary, 2011). forbearance and the desire to nourish may cast been deciding factors that would forget one to pursue a billinger in nursing. Nurses over the pass over of their career will have extensive exposure to trauma, pain and calamitous situations. Workplace stressors such as scheduling and increasing workload along with repeated exposure to the hardships of others predisposes health professionals, especially nurses, to develop a unique causa of burn out labeled compassion fatigue (Joinson 1992). Compassion fatigue develops when a nurse unintentionally takes on the misfortune, anxiety, pain and trauma of the patients they care for. It is a negative emotional and physical response to the unfortunate situations that house arise in the profession of care giving. The detrimental effects offer include exhaustion, an inability to focus and a decrease in productivity, as well as unhappiness, self-doubt and loss of passion and enthusiasm (Lester, 2010, p. 11). Compassion fatigue will develop suddenly versus burnout which develops gradually (Boyle, 2011, p. 9). This abrupt onset of symptoms will hinder the nurses ability develop a trusting and therapeutic relationship with... ...nate in their work and genuinely care for their patients, but to do this they must set professional and personal boundaries and be aware of the effect pain trauma and death may have o n their lives. According to Bush (2009), nurses must learn forgiveness and honey themselves to prevent and overcome compassion fatigue. Nurses should treat themselves with the empathy and compassion that they give others (Bush, 2009, p. 27). Nurses should take time to nurture themselves by maintaining a healthy lifestyle and diet. They should as well as continue to participate in activities that they enjoy, get plenty of rest, and have a sense of self-awareness throughout their career. Additional resources are available to any caregiver to educate themselves on compassion fatigue at The Compassion weary Awareness Projects web site at http//www.compassionfatigue.org/index.html.