Resilience to Compassion Fatigue in Empathic Nurses

Research conducted on compassion fatigue (CF) was first studied among nurses in 1992. Interest in the effects of CF has increased in present day employment, and extends to all sectors of healthcare professionals during a decline in the ranks of healthcare workers. However, some nurses seem resilient and do not develop CF. Lack of knowledge about the essence of resiliency to CF may lead to less effective training programs for nurses. To address this problem, aspects of lived or observed resiliency to CF among nurses were explored in this study, using the phenomenological approach based on the qualitative methodologies of Moustakas and van Manen. Data were gathered through in-depth, semistructured interviews of 7 nurses, from 5 specialties in 5 hospitals. Using iterative analysis of the transcribed interviews, clusters of meaning were grouped together into nodes. Themes which emerged from the rich descriptions were as follows: (a) individual experiences of empathy, CF, and resiliency to CF are similar to nurses' observations; (b) CF overlaps with burnout, but has differences based on compassion; (c) CF develops gradually; (d) resiliency to CF is individualized and usually develops over years of experience in the field; and (e) the nursing workplace can be a source of strengthening this resiliency. These findings have implications for positive social change, specifically for healthcare organizations, by guiding their work in improving the health of their nurses, increasing compassionate patient care, and generating more effective policies at the facility level for CF intervention. With less CF among nurses, hospitals could provide higher quality services and see economic gains in retention of experienced, compassionate nurses.