Lombardo Barbara, Eyre Caryl
Online J Issues Nurs. 2011 Jan 31;16(1):3. doi: 10.3912/OJIN.Vol16No01Man03.
Most nurses enter the field of nursing with the intent to help others and provide empathetic care for patients with critical physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs. Empathic and caring nurses, however, can become victims of the continuing stress of meeting the often overwhelming needs of patients and their families, resulting in compassion fatigue. Compassion fatigue affects not only the nurse in terms of job satisfaction and emotional and physical health, but also the workplace environment by decreasing productivity and increasing turnover. We begin this article with a case study of a reactive nurse who did not seek help for her continuing stress. This is followed by a review of Watson's theoretical perspective related to compassion fatigue. Next we delineate symptoms of, and describe interventions for addressing compassion fatigue. We conclude by presenting a case study of a proactive nurse who avoided developing compassion fatigue and a discussion of future research needed to better prevent and ameliorate compassion fatigue.
大多数护士进入护理领域的初衷是帮助他人，并为有严重身体、心理、情感和精神需求的患者提供共情护理。然而，富有共情心且关怀他人的护士可能会成为持续压力的受害者，这种压力源于满足患者及其家属常常难以承受的需求，进而导致同情疲劳。同情疲劳不仅会影响护士的工作满意度、情绪和身体健康，还会通过降低工作效率和增加人员流动率影响工作场所环境。本文开篇是一个关于一位应对型护士的案例研究，她没有为自己持续的压力寻求帮助。接下来是对与同情疲劳相关的沃森理论观点的回顾。然后我们阐述同情疲劳的症状，并描述应对同情疲劳的干预措施。我们通过介绍一位避免出现同情疲劳的主动型护士的案例研究以及对未来更好地预防和缓解同情疲劳所需研究的讨论来结束本文。
