...A Tool to Help Heath Care Professionals Cope A Tool to Help Heath Care Professionals Cope Compassion Fatigue Compassion Fatigue What is Compassion Fatigue? Caring too much can hurt. When caregivers focus on others without practicing self-care, destructive behaviors can surface. Apathy, isolation, bottled up emotions and substance abuse head a long list of symptoms associated with the secondary traumatic stress disorder now labeled: Compassion Fatigue. This used to be labeled as burnout and is a deep physical, emotional and spiritual exhaustion, which can include feeling actual pain. Caregivers such as nurses and physicians as well as families may become less empathetic and unable to give their all to their patients. Learning to recognize the signs and symptoms is the first step towards combatting this problem. Some Key Points * Compassion fatigue is a form of burnout that manifests itself as physical, emotional and spiritual exhaustion * To prevent or recover from compassion fatigue, take time for self-reflection, identify what's important and live in a way that reflects it * To sustain yourself at work, develop “principles of practice” — guidelines of personal integrity that articulate the parameters of your personal values. Commit to live and work within these principles. What is Compassion Fatigue? Caring too much can hurt. When caregivers focus on others without practicing self-care, destructive behaviors can surface. Apathy, isolation, bottled up emotions...
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...helping people in distress; it is an extreme state of tension and preoccupation with the suffering of those being helped to the degree that it is traumatizing for the helper. (Chapman 2007). Definition • Compassion : Sorrow for the suffering or trouble of others accompanied by the urge to help. • Fatigue : is physical and or mental exhaustion. Causes of Compassion Fatigue • Someone highly task and goal oriented. • • • • • A perfectionist. An individual who tends to be overly critical but cannot stand criticism. An inability to allow personal satisfaction. High personal expectations and exaggerated expectations of others. Someone whose work and "productive" activity is overvalued and provides the major source of self-esteem and pleasure (Dwyer, 2006) Symptoms of Compassion Fatigue • • • • Physical indications Psychological indication Spiritual indication Performance indication (Funk, J.R. n.d). Warning Signs of Compassion Fatigue • Exhaustion. • • • Detachment Depression. Disorientation • • • • • Change of work style Boredom and cynicism A sense of omnipotence Feelings of Being Unappreciated. Increased impatience and irritability (Funk, J.R. n.d). Physical needs of the caregiver • • • Diet Sleep Fighting Fatigue • • Exercise Relaxation (Chapman, 2007). Emotional needs of the caregiver • • • A true friend Laughing/ happiness Emotional Support • Personal satisfaction (Chapman, 2007). Spiritual...
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...Week 5 1) Considering that burnout has been related to the amount and type of work done along with the type of work that you do or hope to do, are you at risk for burnout? Why? No, I do not believe that I am a candidate for burnout. I work with children and they change every year and there is never a dull moment so it doesn’t become monotone, boring, and repitious, which all is a clear description of burnout. 2) Describe some of the effects that secondary traumatic stress can have on professional capability. This can have detrimental effects on individuals, both professionally and personally, including a decrease in productivity, the inability to focus, and the development of new feelings of incompetency and self doubt. 3) Review the factors that contribute and explain burnout on page 89. Have you ever experienced these in your professional experience? I can honestly say that I believe everyone over some period of time experiences those symptoms or something similar to those symptoms. It is just a part of having a steady career that has to do with a repetitious field. How you handle the day to day or how you chose to see your daily career may make or break the fine line between a rut and burnout. Week 6 1) Describe some of the ways humor helps relieve stress related to trauma (physiologic and therapeutic.) I’ve independently read that laughing releases endorphins that help you calm and relieve stress. I have also learned that changing...
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...COMPASSION FATIGUE and THE PATH to RENEWAL Presenters: Kathy Hoppe, D.Min. and Loretta Oldfield, RN COMPASSION FATIGUE and THE PATH to RENEWAL Presenters: Kathy Hoppe, D.Min. and Loretta Oldfield, RN 1. Introductions 3. Learning to Juggle 4. Most of us have trouble juggling. The woman who says she doesn't is someone whom I admire but have never met. Barbara Walters Most of us have trouble juggling. The woman who says she doesn't is someone whom I admire but have never met. Barbara Walters Juggling Misconceptions about Helping Others * I can fix the problem and everything will be ok. * If I care enough, everything will turn out right. * I have enough resources on my own to fix it. * The person I’m helping will appreciate everything I do. * I know what I’m getting into. 5. Definitions * Stress: the nonspecific response of the human organism to any demand placed upon it * Suffering: a state of severe distress associated with events that threaten a person’s intact state * Compassion: deep awareness of the suffering of another person along with the wish to relieve that suffering * Compassion Fatigue: A state of tension and preoccupation with an individual or cumulative trauma of clients as manifested in one or more ways including re-experiencing the traumatic event, avoiding triggers or feeling numb, or feeling persistent arousal. Or The natural consequence of stress resulting from caring for and helping...
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...Running head: COMPASSION FATIGUE: CARING FOR THE CAREGIVER Compassion Fatigue: Caring for the Caregiver Kimberly Flowers Grand Canyon University Spirituality in Health Care HLT-310V Patricia Mullen March 24, 2012 Compassion Fatigue: Caring for the Caregiver Introduction Compassion represents an “acknowledgement of another’s suffering and is accompanied by the expression of a desire to ease or end that suffering.” (Van der Cingal, 2009, p. 124) This is a fundamental characteristic usually found in health care workers and nurses especially. In one twelve hour shift, a nurse’s job can change from taking vitals and administering medications to performing life saving measures or even holding a dying patient’s hand as they transition from this world to the next. And in that same few hours, a myriad of emotions can flood the soul with such force it leaves one drained and exhausted. This would be a very difficult roller coaster of emotions for anyone, but multiply that times three or four days per week for many years. It is no surprise that health care workers are extremely susceptible to emotional and physical fatigue, also known as compassion fatigue. Compassion fatigue is that fatigue brought on by giving so much of one’s self for an extended period of time without taking time to revive or replenish one’s own physical, emotional and spiritual needs. This paper will explore the nature and causes of five major...
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...Combating Compassion Fatigue Kadijatu Lewis Grand Canyon University: HLT.310V April 14th, 2013 Nursing is an emotional, physical spiritual and hard work. It is also rewarding and most times satisfying. Nurses witness pain and suffering of others daily, resulting in increase risk for emotional stress. Nurses also work under demanding conditions related to budget constraints, and short staff resulting in increase workload. Compassion fatigue is the last stage of compassion discomfort and compassion stress. The nursing profession does not provide adequate resources to help combat this condition, like other professionals who deal with similar situations. This paper will identify signs and symptoms of compassion fatigue and ways of combating them. Compassionate fatigue is an emotional, physical and spiritual exhaustion from witnessing and absorbing the problems and suffering of others. Compassionate fatigue usually affect selfless, caring and sacrificing nurses who are emotional attached to their jobs. It usually comes on gradually. It usually occurs when a caregiver attempts to give out more compassion and energy than they are getting in return. When we exhibit compassion fatigue, our natural human desire to help is significantly diminished (Frandsen, 2010) Compassion fatigue manifest itself in different ways, these include feeling of exhaustion and overwhelm with ones assignment before the start of shift, this feeling occurs...
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...Healthcare providers are at increased risk for compassion fatigue (CF), which has also been called secondary traumatic stress, second hand shock syndrome, secondary stress reaction, and vicarious trauma (ABA, 2011). Compassion fatigue begins to become an issue when caregivers give too much of themselves to others and neglect to provide for their own needs. Neglecting one’s personal needs can be harmful, leading to destructive behaviors and patterns, such as over indulgence and increased sick calls. Over time the provider has a decreased ability to show compassion. This paper will discuss and describe compassion fatigue, warning signs of compassion fatigue, and discuss recovery options for those suffering from compassion fatigue. Compassion fatigue is expressed as a form of burnout due to the intensifying emotional, physical, and psychological effects of being exposed to the stressful and often emotionally draining circumstances of our patients and coworkers while providing care. Coupled with our own stressors in our everyday lives can lead to spiritual exhaustion (Pfifferling & Gilley, 2000). Compassion fatigue may change the overall view of how the caregiver or nurse views their everyday life or society in general. Caregivers with compassion fatigue often expend a huge amount of care, energy and compassion to those they care for, but do not get enough support for themselves individually to replenish their depleted energy. It has often been said that caregivers make the...
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...Running head: MODULE 4 ASSIGNMENT Compassion Fatigue Miranda R. Bowers Grand Canyon University HLT 310 February 17, 2012 Introduction Dictionary.com describes compassion as a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering (2012). Bush describes compassion fatigue as a complex emotion that allows caregivers to hold and sustain themselves in emotional balance while holding patients’ despair in one hand and their hopefulness in the other (2009). Being able to identify the warning signs, know the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of you as a caregiver, and knowing different coping skills and ways to deal with the stressors of juggling life’s activities can help us as caregivers to keep ourselves in balance. Warning Signs The symptoms of compassion fatigue are similar to those of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, only instead of the symptoms being based upon a trauma that you directly experienced, they are due to the trauma that your clients have experienced Five of the major concepts of Compassion Fatigue are as follows: 1. Having a feeling of being weak, tired and/or rundown as a result of my work as a helper. Sometimes, with juggling so much in our lives, we can get carried away with our responsibilities to others and forget to take care of our own needs. I’ve seen people juggle multiple jobs, school, family, and religion, and in doing so, and they were so busy...
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...Combating Compassion Fatigue Christina Churu Grand Canyon University Spirituality in Health Care HLT 310 V August 12, 2012 Combating Compassion Fatigue (Gilmore, 2012) states that compassion fatigue is not just being overwhelmed by the demands of the job but that it is a behavioral response that usually occurs to people who are constantly helping people who are sick and suffering .Nursing is a caring profession and people are drawn to the profession because they love to care and to be compassionate .There comes a time during the care giving process that the care we give to the patients become personal and start taking a toll on our physical ,psychological and spiritual health.(Bush, 20090 states that in compassion fatigue not only do the environmental factors of work negatively affect care givers but also the physical demands of the patients such as pain and discomfort and emotional needs such as fear and anxiety..Care givers should be able to recognize the signs of compassion fatigue so that help can seek medical treatment early before the symptoms start to take a severe toll on the care giver’s health. (Gilmore, 2012, p. 20) noted that the things that draw nurses to caring such as providing compassion and support to the patients are the very things that cause nurses to suffer from compassion fatigue .I personally feel that compassion fatigue is when we spend time with the patients ,getting to know them more and during the process we love the patients more...
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...Combating Compassion Fatigue April 05, 2012 Introduction Helping others is what health care is all about. When you have a calling or a passion to care for others and to help them, you should truly be a care giver. But the very thing that draws us to be a care taker and helping others in their time of need can be what cause us to be exhausted, disappointed, and unable to cope at times and burned out. I am talking about compassion fatigue. We will talk about what CF is, what causes it and, hopefully, how to prevent it. Warning signs for compassion fatigue Compassion fatigue or burn-out, trauma or empathetic strain is an occupational hazard for health care professionals. Compassion fatigue can also be called or defined as a physical, emotional or spiritual exhaustion that overcomes a caretaker and cause them not to be able to feel joy, happiness or other emotions associated with health care (Counter Compassion Fatigue with Mindfulness). There are many signs and symptoms of CF and just a few include: Feeling tired before your work even begins, lack of enjoyment in your personal life, excessive drinking, overeating, excessive spending, blaming others not to mention your physical symptoms like back pain, stomach ache and having to use your sick days (Combating compassion fatigue). These signs can include physical symptoms, psychological symptoms, emotional symptoms and even professional symptoms (A hospital-wide approach to combating compassion fatigue). Some physical symptoms...
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...Combating Burnout and Compassion Fatigue: Care Givers and Pr0 0 0 0Share x Download PresentationCommentsYour comment has been successfully placed! You already posted comment on this presentation. Comments are disabled! Comment deleted successfully Added: 07-04-2010 Views: 8684Add to Favorites Feature This! Innappropiate Please Login to flag this presentation! Your inappropriate request is sent successfully! Failed to send your inappropiate request! Please login to send a feature request! Your feature quest has been sent successfuly! Error while send your feature request! Favorited Successfully! Favorite Failed! Already Added! Login To Add! Cannot favorite your own presentation! Description:Burnout and compassion fatigue definitions, signs, symptoms, strategies to recognize, prevent and overcome them from a physical, emotional and spiritual perspective. This is for health care workers, and care takers of sick family members. There are speaker notes for this presentation too. If you would like a copy please email me here or at my email address located on the first slide. ChannelsSports / Games Education / Career Fashion / Beauty Graphics / Design News / Politics Tagshealth care care takers burn out compassion fatigue nursing stress emergency self care respite care. Combating Burnout and Compassion Fatigue: Care Givers and Pr - Transcript Combating Burnout...
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...Compassion Fatigue James Stangle 2.1.2013 Compassion Fatigue This paper will discuss the problem surrounding compassion fatigue as related to health care providers and their causes. Further discussion will include ways to recognize health care provider compassion fatigue by dialoging specific warning signs that are present before compassion fatigue sets in. Concepts regarding the emotional, spiritual, and physical needs of the health care provider will be discussed including the importance of fulfilling the discussed needs. Lastly, coping strategies will be discussed including available resources that can be used by health care providers to help thwart the onset of compassion fatigue. The Problem As cited in an article titled “Program to combat ‘compassion fatigue’” published in 2010 within the Hospice Management Advisor, Coe states, “Compassion fatigue is a stress disorder that was identified in the 1950s, primarily among vocations that provide care for people in crisis” (“Program to combat”, 2010). Coe further related that, “Compassion fatigue is the gradual lessening of a person’s ability to provide compassion” (“Program to combat”, 2010). Coe was cited to say that, “Each nurse, doctor, or other caregiver only has so much compassion” (“Program to combat”, 2010). With the problem defined, discussion may be had to what this problems leads to. When compassion fatigue takes hold of a health care provider suffering becomes mutli-facet. Care provided by the health care provider...
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...rendering empathetic care to patients and families. Daily, nurses are also subject to a multitude of crises, high acuity sets and increased workloads. The psychological demands of a nurse, under incomprehensible amounts of stress, has yet to be addressed in depth. Compassion fatigue is a label stuck to the caregiver who becomes victim to continued strain in meeting the needs of patients and families suffering from critical, traumatic, or end-of-life needs. Because of compassion fatigue, the emotional, mental, and physical health of the nurse is at stake. Little has been done to prevent compassion fatigue in the workplace. However, voices are beginning to advocate for nurses who are in the trenches day in and day out by initiating compassion fatigue interventions. These include mentorship programs, educating healthcare staff on compassion fatigue symptoms, and speaking to state legislators who are able to enact change in the healthcare setting. The implications of personal health, patient satisfaction, job satisfaction, and joyfulness are in jeopardy. Keywords: compassion fatigue, empathetic care, psychological demands, compassion fatigue interventions, compassion fatigue prevention, compassion fatigue symptoms, patient satisfaction, job satisfaction, mentorship programs A new nurse and her preceptor have a seven patient assignment. The preceptor is called away to attend to another matter, leaving the new nurse alone to care for seven patients, including an end-of-life-care...
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...Burn Out * To be burn out: * A state of emotional exhaustion caused by the stresses of one’s job, responsibilities, work environment or lack of support. * Compassion Fatigue Syndrome: * A physical, emotional and spiritual fatigue or exhaustion that takes over a person and causes a decline in their ability to experience joy or feel and care for others. * Phases of Compassion Fatigue: * Idealist Phase: A. Motivated by idealism B. Ready to serve & problem solve C. Desires to contribute & make a difference D. Volunteers to help E. Full of energy & enthusiasm * Irritability Phase A. Cuts corners B. Avoid client contact C. Mock peers & client D. Underestimates own efforts at wellness E. Loss concentration & focus F. Distance oneself from others * Withdrawal Phase A. Loses patience with clients B. Become defensive C. Neglects self & others D. Chronically fatigued E. Loses hope F. Views oneself as a victim & isolates oneself * Zombie Phase A. Views others as ignorant or incompetent B. Loses, patience, sense of humor & zest for life C. Dislike others D. Becomes easily enraged Signs and Symptoms of Compassion Fatigue Work Related * Avoidance or dread of working with certain patients * Reduced ability to feel empathy towards patients or families * Frequent use of sick...
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...Patient Services/Intensive Care Nurses/Compassion Fatigue Intervention/BESt 173 Best Evidence Statement (BESt) Date: July 17, 2013 Title: Decreasing Compassion Fatigue* among Pediatric Intensive Care Nurses Using Self-Care Skills* and Compassion Fatigue Training* Clinical Question: P (Population/Problem) I (Intervention) C (Comparison) O (Outcome) Among pediatric intensive care nurses does functional knowledge of compassion fatigue and the practice of self-care skills, compared to not, demonstrate less compassion fatigue? Definitions for terms marked with * may be found in the Supporting Information section. Target Population for the Recommendation: Nurses working in pediatric intensive care settings who provide direct patient care Recommendation: It is recommended that nurses working in pediatric intensive care settings receive training that includes compassion fatigue awareness, coping strategies, stress management, relaxation techniques and self-care interventions to decrease the level of compassion fatigue experienced in the work environment (Marine, Ruotsalainen, Serra, & Verbeek (2009) [1a]; Gunusen, & Ustun (2010) [2a]; Kravits, McAllister-Black, Grant, & Kirk (2010) [4a]; Meadors & Lamson (2008) [4a]). Discussion/Synthesis of Evidence related to the recommendation: The evidence referred to a variety of concepts related to the manifestation of compassion fatigue, including burnout, emotional exhaustion, and workplace stress. The concepts...
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