Compassion fatigue – are we losing our best and brightest to this?

Science Daily ran a news story April 1 that’s no April Fool’s joke.

The story details the challenges that health care professionals who care for severely ill, dying individuals experience.

“The term compassion fatigue was first coined in the 1990s to describe a syndrome experienced by a healthcare provider caring for individuals facing dire consequences as a result of their disease. Going beyond empathy or "feeling bad" for the person, it effects the nurse, doctor or other member of the healthcare team in a way that he or she often develops a distance from the patient as a way of self-protection.

Symptoms of compassion fatigue include chronic tiredness and irritability, lack of joy in life, engagement in behaviors which are fine in moderation, such as drinking, at a destructive level. Like individuals who have post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), those with compassion fatigue often re-experience the deaths of their patients, according to Dr. Carney Doebbeling.

Compassion fatigue can lead individuals to protect or insulate themselves by loss of compassion, cynicism, boredom, decreased productivity, more sick days and ultimately higher turnover.”

In my early days training senior care staff, we used to talk about the one certainty we face as senior care professionals: every one of our clients will die. Some quickly; some after many years in our care. But they will all, eventually, die.

That fact makes us all ripe for compassion fatigue. Perhaps it explains, at least a little, the high rate of turnover that is endemic to our profession.

Jennifer Phillips Graham writes about the arrival of spring – a promise even where it’s not yet a reality.

“Sweet, sweet spring – a time of renewal, growth and new beginnings. We encounter rain, mud and slush, but our step is lighter because we know the end is in sight. We’ve survived cold and darkness, and emerged with a fresh purpose.

When I consider how vital this renewal is to the human spirit, my heart goes out to those who have depleted their reservoirs, those who desperately need refueled.
Is a change in weather enough for them?”

Graham goes on to recommend simple things we can do to support people who may be in the grip of compassion fatigue:

“As birds fly in flocks to reduce the energy they expend, we can join forces to lighten the load of nurturers.”

Send a card or flowers to a caregiver you know.

Volunteer your time to give a caregiver a break…Even a “How you doin’?” can lift the spirits.”

As leaders and decision-makers, we’re often out of the daily grind that breeds this depth of fatigue. But we’re in the perfect position to support these individuals; to recognize that caring, with compassion, takes a toll.

A hand-written card. A walk-through that includes time to say, “hi” and “thank-you” to team members. An extra 10 minutes helping at lunch time in the dining room.

These simple things may be unexpected, and all the more powerful to lift the spirits and lighten the psychological load of the most important members of our team: the compassion-filled caregivers.