NURSES AFFECTED BY COMPASSION FATIGUE

Nurses Affected by Compassion Fatigue

Nurses Affected by Compassion Fatigue

Introduction

Nursing theory has been gradually built as a result of a great deal of research, thought, and principled analysis bringing nursing and other disciplines together. The body of nursing theory forms best practices, ambitious vision, and high ideals. All of this propels nursing toward being a professional rather than devolving back into a mere vocational skill.

More concrete values added by the study of nursing theory are the development of a student's abilities in the areas of critical thinking, reading & comprehension, analytical skills, and other abilities. These are common to other professions (Miller, 2002).

Criticism runs in both directions. Vocational nursing is criticized for being rote, lacking vision and scientific approaches, etc. On the other hand, Master's programs for entry-level nurses occasionally produce brand-new grad nurses whose heads have been so filled with so much information that they cannot remember how to properly start an IV.

But in general, nursing theory is a body of knowledge that the medical and nursing communities and their professional associations have deemed important, desirable, and serves the future development of the profession.

The cutting edge of nursing lies in evidence-based practice, where nursing is tying its own theories and empirical data into other sciences like chemistry, microbiology, medicine, computer science, etc. to do new things that nurses traditionally did not do. Nurse Practitioners, Clinical Nurse Specialists, and other advanced practice nurses are at this cutting edge (Kottler, 1992).

Significance of the Study

To understand the significance and context of the proposed research topic studies conducted or already existing literature relating to the topic needed to be observed. A large proportion of knowledge has been acquired on the topic but the most relevant literature that could validate and support research objectives and goals would come under discussion in this part.As nowadays it is very important to know what actually is happening to nurses as they are facing compression fatigue.

Background information and Development of the problem

The healthcare field is becoming more aware of the profound emotional disturbances that occur in healthcare providers when they witness the suffering and pain of their patients in the face of an incurable disease, such as cancer. Healthcare providers are often partners in this journey, and the understanding of the effects of caring for the terminally ill on the caregiver is limited," the researchers wrote. They reviewed 57 studies to identify the prevalence of compassion fatigue among cancer-care providers, how to detect it and means of prevention and treatment.

The term compassion fatigue was first coined in the 1990s to describe a syndrome experienced by a healthcare provider caring for individuals facing dire consequences as a result of their disease. Going beyond empathy or "feeling bad" for the person, it effects the nurse, doctor or other member of the healthcare team in a way that he or she often develops a distance from the patient as a way of self-protection (Kinnock, 1996).

It is known that fatigue is difficult to describe and, in ...