Today's Florence Nightingales may be suffering from 'Compassion Fatigue'. Part of the problem is a lack of accurate instruments specific to nursing. Many may find themselves having to deal with the phenomenon in silence.

A study published in the most recent issue of International Journal of Nursing Practice (IJNP) reported that compassion fatigue has emerged as a natural consequence of caring for clients who are in pain, suffering or traumatized.

Published by Blackwell Publishing in the June 2006 issue of IJNP and authored by Brenda Sabo - Doctoral Nursing student and Adjunct Professor of the School of Nursing in Health Outcomes at the Dalhousie University in Canada - this paper sheds light on how nursing work might impact the health of nurses by exploring the concept of compassion fatigue.

Health outcomes - and in particular, patient health outcomes - have become a driving force within the health-care delivery industry. With so little emphasis being placed on the potential health consequences for nurses who provide care within the health-care system, a disconnect between the expectation of the individual around role performance and the structure of the organisation that is present to support the role now exists. Nurses have reported experiencing symptoms similar to those of actual patients suffering from a traumatic event.

Remarked Brenda Sabo, "If we are to understand the consequences of caring work on the health of nurses we must shift our thinking beyond caring as women's work. Nurses lived experience is not only complex but emotionally charged. We also need to understand what protects human beings engaged in caring work with clients experiencing pain, suffering and trauma. Further, instruments need to be developed to capture the nursing experience both positive and negative - focusing on pathology continues to blame the individual rather than taking into account the larger healthcare system problems. To continue to ignore potential adverse health outcomes such as compassion fatigue will only continue to take its toll on a health system already in crisis.

Although the body of literature exploring the prevalence of compassion fatigue continues to grow, the lack of research to support the underlying theory of the concept in relation to measurement is cause for alarm. The advances made in the mental health studies still do not provide adequate tools to differentiate between an individual suffering from burn-out, compassion fatigue or other post traumatic stress syndromes.

It is vital that authorities work towards cultivating a clearer understanding of the link between the empathic sensitivity of the health-care profession and their vulnerability to secondary trauma syndromes. Much work is also needed to develop an instrument that clearly reflects the concepts of compassion and fatigue - for the benefit of the nursing community that so generously provides it to patients who need it most.

International Journal of Nursing Practice

The International Journal of Nursing Practice is a fully refereed journal publishing original scholarly work that advances the international understanding and development of nursing both as a profession and academic discipline. The Journal focuses on research and professional discussion papers with a sound scientific, theoretical or philosophical base.

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