Compassion Fatigue and Compassion Satisfaction among Staff Nurses Working in Critical Care Units

ABSTRACT

When compassion has been demonstrated for a long time, compassion fatigue could manifest as a negative outcome. Nurses who are affected by compassion fatigue have expressed feelings of depression, which may be related to the constant emotional trauma they experience by virtue of being employed in critical care areas. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted to assess compassion fatigue in terms of burnout and secondary traumatic stress and compassion satisfaction among nurses working in the critical care units of a tertiary care hospital in Punjab. A total of 100 staff nurses were selected by convenience sampling technique. Data was collected by socio-demographic profile, professional profile and Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL) Version 5 (2009). The results revealed that 65 percent of the subjects had average level, 34 percent had low and only 1 percent had high level of burnout. It was found that 59 percent of the subjects had average level of secondary traumatic stress, 40 percent had low level and only 1 percent had high level of secondary traumatic stress. Majority (54%) had average level, 45 percent had high level and only 1 percent had low level of compassion satisfaction. Secondary traumatic stress was found to be significantly associated with socio-economic status, duration of work experience in critical care units and leave in past one week. Compassion satisfaction was significantly associated with age, habitat, professional qualification and extra duties performed. Majority of the subjects had average level of burnout and secondary traumatic stress. Secondary traumatic stress was higher in staff nurses who belonged to lower middle class (p=0.05) and who had not taken leave in the past one weak and among staff nurses who had 11-15 years of work experience in critical care units.