Transcript Compassion Fatigue: Caring for Professional Caregivers

Compassion Fatigue: Caring
for Professional Caregivers
Part I:
Understanding Compassion
Fatigue
The History of Compassion Fatigue

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is first
included in the DSM III in 1980
 Trauma may be experienced either “directly”
or “indirectly” (secondary traumatic stress)
 An evolution of names for secondary traumatic
stress including: Secondary Victimization,
Vicarious Trauma, Secondary Trauma, and finally
“Compassion Fatigue” which was coined by a
nurse, Carla Joinson, in 1992
Compassion Fatigue Is Not
the Same As Burn Out

Burn out: a state of physical, mental and
emotional exhaustion caused by long term
involvement in demanding circumstances
 Burn out is a process, not a condition
 Origins are usually organizational
 Symptoms are directly related to the cause
Compassion Fatigue Is Not
Counter-transference

The process of seeing oneself in the patient
 Limited to certain relationships
 Temporary
 Compassion Fatigue is a cumulative process
that is felt beyond any particular
relationship
Remembering “Sam”
The professional work centered on the
relief of emotional suffering of clients
automatically includes absorbing
information that is about suffering. Often
it includes that suffering as well.
- Charles Figley, 1995
Vulnerability for Compassion
Fatigue
Exposure – daily barrage of traumatic
material
 Empathy – the greater the empathy the
more effective the relationship and the
greater the risk for Compassion Fatigue
 Other factors include: emotional state,
limited stress management, poor self care,
poor support and spirituality

Emotional Indicators

Anxiety / increased negative arousal
 Numbness / flooding
 Lowered frustration tolerance / irritability
 Grief symptoms
 Anger
 Sadness
 Depression
Physical Indicators

Intrusive thoughts / images
 Headaches
 GI symptoms
 Insomnia / nightmares / sleep disruptions
 Decreased immune response
 Lethargy
 Becoming more accident prone
Personal Indicators

Perceptive / assumptive world disturbances
 Decrease in subjective sense of safety
 Self isolation
 Difficulty separating work life from
personal life
 Diminished functioning in non-professional
circumstances
 Increases in in-effective or self destructive
self soothing behaviors
Work Indicators

Avoidance of certain patients / clients
 Hyper vigilant response to certain cases
 Diminished sense of purpose / enjoyment
 Feelings of therapeutic impotence
Spiritual Indicators

Questioning the meaning of life
 Questioning prior religious beliefs
 Anger at God
 Increased skepticism
 Loss of hope
Managing Compassion
Fatigue
Awareness

Being attuned to ones needs, limits,
emotions and resources
 Knowing your “renewal zones”
 Practicing mindfulness
 Accepting and acknowledging that we are
changed by what we do
Balance

Maintaining balance among our life
activities – work, play, rest
 Have a personal life!
 Pursue joyful activities
Connection

To oneself
 To others
 To the bigger picture
 Connection increases validation and hope
Jillian’s Coping Strategies

Host a pickle
eating contest
 Go to the beach!
Part II:
Caring for Professional
Caregivers
Why Spiritual Care?
Spiritual care of the “meaning maker”
 Chaplain as professional listener
 Respected and viewed as agents of hope
 Access to various disciplines and units
within the institution
 The time to organize and offer staff support

Disciplines to include
RN’s
 Physicians / medical interns & residents
 Social workers
 Counselors
 Rehab therapists
 CPE students
 Other chaplains!

Formats for information and
support

In-service session
 Orientation sessions: RNs, hospital staff,
interns and residents
 In lieu of / as part of a regularly scheduled
staff meeting
 Lunch / break room
 Regularly scheduled support groups
Compassion Fatigue
In-Service
Over view – differentiate from burn out
 Symptoms of Compassion Fatigue
 The ABCs of Compassion Fatigue
management
 Give participants time to talk about it!
 Explain and offer the self Test for Helpers

And let us not grow weary in well doing: for in
due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
- Galatians 6:9
God bless you!