Compassion fatigue among nurses working on an adult emergency and urgent care unit

• Published in: Revista latino-americana de enfermagem Vol. 27; p. e3175
• Main Authors: Borges, Elisabete Maria das Neves, Fonseca, Carla Isabel Nunes da Silva, Baptista, Patrícia Campos Pavan, Queirós, Cristina Maria Leite, Baldonedo-Mosteiro, María, Mosteiro-Diaz, María Pilar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Portuguese
• Published: Brazil Universidade de São Paulo-USP, Escola de Enfermagem de Ribeirão Preto - USP 01.01.2019; Escola de Enfermagem de Ribeirão Preto / Universidade de São Paulo
• Subjects: Adult; Artigo Original; Burnout; Burnout, Professional - psychology; Compassion Fatigue - psychology; Cross-Sectional Studies; Demography; Emergency Nursing; Fatigue; Female; Humans; Job Satisfaction; Male; Middle Aged; Nurses; Nursing Staff, Hospital - psychology; Quality of Life - psychology; Sex Factors; Sociodemographics; Surveys and Questionnaires
• ISSN: 0104-1169; 1518-8345; 1518-8345
• DOI: 10.1590/1518-8345.2973.3175

to assess compassion fatigue levels among nurses and its variation according socio-demographic and professional characteristics. quantitative, descriptive and cross-sectional study, with 87 nurses from an emergency and urgent care unit for adults from a university hospital. A socio-demographic and professional questionnaire, along with the Professional Quality of Life Scale 5 were used. Data analysis was performed using descriptive and inferential statistics. compassion satisfaction presents the highest means, followed by burnout and secondary traumatic stress. Among the participants, 51% presented a high level of compassion satisfaction, 54% a high level of burnout, and 59% a high level of secondary traumatic stress. Older participants presented higher score of compassion satisfaction, and younger nurses, women, nurses having less job experience and nurses without leisure activities showed higher means of secondary traumatic stress. we found compassion fatigue, expressed in the large percentage of nurses with high levels of burnout and secondary traumatic stress. Fatigue is related to individual factors such as age, gender, job experience and leisure activities. Doing research and understanding this phenomenon allow the development of health promotion strategies at work.