Education as an Intervention of Compassion Fatigue

Slatten, Carson, and Carson (2011) describe compassion fatigue as "an occupational hazard for
those in the helping professions and is a natural consequence of working with people who have
experienced extremely stressful events" (p. 327). Compassion fatigue (CF) is a condition that
can affect one's physical, emotional, and social well-being. CF can exist or be misunderstood
as burnout, defined as the "inability to cope with job stress, displays symptoms such as
emotional exhaustion, and reduced personal and professional accomplishments" (Maslach,
Schaufeli, & Leiter, 2001). The term Secondary Traumatic stress has been used within the
literature to describe nurses' exposure to the traumatic situations of patients and is often
used interchangeably with compassion fatigue (Beck, 2011; Flarity, Gentry, & Mesinkoof,
2013), but is contrasted by compassion satisfaction (CS): the pleasure that nurses derive
from the ability to perform work well (Stamm, 2009). Slatten et al., (2011) described
compassion fatigue as a natural consequence of nursing: therefore, prevention of exposure
should not be the focus of any intervention. The Literature review has identified that nurses
should be educated about risk factors and coping strategies to combat compassion fatigue.

Neville and Cole (2013) describe incentives for organizations to proactively prevent CF, they
explained:

The care patients receive from nurses is one of the most significant predictors of patient
satisfaction and is a quality indicator of overall healthcare performance. Research
demonstrates that nurses' perception of work environment and patient satisfaction are highly
correlated; thus, measures to enhance nurses' ability to deliver excellent care and to thrive
in their work environments are of paramount importance to healthcare institutions (p. 349).

Most patients on clinical trials have tried standard of care treatment unsuccessfully. Little
is known, due to the lack of research, demonstrating the impact of CF, CS or Burnout on CRNs
and BMT Nurses. Both nursing populations' work closely with oncology patients, either during
or following participation on a clinical trial, developing a close relationship with the
patients and their families. The nurses are at risk for exposure to emotionally disturbing
patient outcomes that can be detrimental on psychological health. One-third of the Hematology
and Solid Tumor clinical trials at City of Hope National Medical Center are phase 1 trials,
which are to determine dose limiting toxicity with the intent of improving patient outcomes.
Nurses are providing patient care to individuals with a poor prognosis, after repeat exposure
to emotional pain, the CRN and BMT Nurse leave the organization due to intolerance of
suffering.

This project is important to teach nurses how to recognize and manage CF. The educational
intervention could reduce nurse turnover, increase morale, and improve patient satisfaction,
all of which could be a cost savings to the organization.

Inclusion Criteria:

- Documented written informed consent of participant

- Must be a Clinical Research Nurse working in the Clinical Trials Office or a Bone
Marrow Transplant nurse working at COH National Medical Center

- Ability read and speak English, (questionnaires are in English)

- Willingness and ability to complete three ProQol 5 surveys, one demographic survey,and
Coping Mechanisms survey (cohort 2).

- Willingness to participate in a 30-minute educational intervention.