Promoting Awareness on Compassion Fatigue: The Development of an Educational Resource for Oncology Nurses

Background: Compassion is at the core of nursing care. Close relationships are formed with patients and their families as a result of the compassionate care given. This paves the way for a phenomenon known as compassion fatigue. In 1992, Carol Joinson described nurses who shut down their own feelings as a way to deal with the stress of caring for patients undergoing traumatic experiences and recognized nurses at risk for compassion fatigue. When a nurse's capacity to give compassionate care is compromised, the quality of care delivered could potentially be affected. Oncology nurses are recognized as an at-risk group for experiencing compassion fatigue. No existing educational materials on this topic were identified that targeted on oncology nurses. Therefore, an educational resource was created specifically for oncology nurses.;Method: A comprehensive resource booklet was developed to promote awareness of compassion fatigue and offer self-care strategies aiming at prevention and interventions to decrease its effects. Stamm's (2012) Theoretical Model of Compassion Satisfaction and Compassion Fatigue was used as a framework in the development of the booklet. A team of five experts reviewed the booklet through a series of three evaluations using the Delphi Method.;Results: Final topics deemed appropriate for an oncology setting included an overview of compassion fatigue, impact on patient care, prevention and self-care, impact on work environment, and leadership and organization responsibility.;Conclusion: The development of an educational resource for oncology nurses is a vital step to bringing awareness about compassion fatigue. Future goals include distributing the resource to oncology nurses to evaluate its effectiveness on preventing and decreasing compassion fatigue. Education on compassion fatigue needs to be a priority so oncology nurses can continue to give compassionate care.