Fill Your Lamp! Compassion Fatigue and the Novice Nurse

Background: Compassion fatigue affects large numbers of workers who practice in caring fields including: nurses, police, physicians, emergency medical technicians, and social workers. The literature describes compassion fatigue as one of the beginning stages leading to professional attrition and personal burnout. Secondary traumatic stress coupled with demands of nursing school and the challenges of entering a new profession leave many novice nurses at high risk for compassion fatigue and early burnout. The educational module and literature review were designed for novice nurses entering the profession in attempts at preventing early burnout and compassion fatigue.

Methods: A comprehensive review of the literature was performed to identify the risks for compassion fatigue, secondary trauma stress, and burnout in the newly graduated nurse population. The review defined compassion fatigue and identified determinants of building resilience in the population. Electronic databases used to search for literature included EBSCO, CINAHL, Google Scholar, and ProQol library sources.

Results: The literature revealed novice nurses were at high risk for work place compassion fatigue and attrition. Methods of building resilience were identified. Preventative measures and education on resilience building proved more successful than post compassion fatigue interventions. The module included an online and/or lecture presentation designed to inform the novice nurse, test for compassion fatigue via the ProQol scale, and promote the utilization of methods for building professional and personal resilience.

Conclusion: Based upon a review of the literature, findings and recommendations, education on the risk for and nature of compassion fatigue is needed for novice nurses. The literature indicated education before onset of compassion fatigue was essential for the prevention of it. Therefore, utilization of the ProQol scale to determine current levels of compassion fatigue, and practical literature-based methods of building resilience were combined into a practical and informational educational module to assist the novice nurse in recognizing and overcoming compassion fatigue.