The Basic Concepts of Compassion Fatigue - Essay Example

Compassion Fatigue 29th, July, Compassion Fatigue Introduction Most English dictionaries describe compassion as a feeling of sorrow or deep sympathy for a person who has been hit by an unfortunate occurrence. Compassion is often coupled by the need to assist people alleviate or minimize the suffering resulting from the misfortune. According to Joinson (2007), compassion fatigue is complex feelings that that create an imbalance of professional and human ethics among caregivers. This leads to an ethical dilemma among caregivers, which is characterized, by hopefulness and despair. Health workers particularly nurses and homecare givers often go beyond their job requirements in order to give specialized or excessive care to a patients. Although compassionate care giving stands out as an accepted social responsibility of the nurses, the practice defies professional ethics and requirements for health workers. This essay explores compassion fatigue form a processional and ethical perspective. Concepts and Symptoms Nurses and other caregivers often find themselves in a dilemma concerning the care they need to give to patients and their own welfare. Although health workers have a good understanding on the nature of human body its needs for rest and healthy lifestyles, they are bound by social and professional responsibilities (Joinson, 2007). Such responsibilities force them to neglect their personal needs. Although compassion fatigue is a major problem among health workers, most health professionals overlook the problem. According to Kottler (2005), the main reason why nurses overlook compassion fatigue is that they have become used to the problem making them to compromise with the fatigue. An interview conducted on nurses working in California hospital established that most nurses used medication to make them stay awake for long hours. The survey also established that most nurses had irregular sleeping periods due to workload or a desire to offer compassion services for their patients. This indicates that health workers need to have a concrete background on compassion fatigue symptoms. Compassion fatigue symptoms are identical to those of posttraumatic stress. Unlike posttraumatic stress, compassion fatigue symptoms are based on trauma. This indicates that they have a direct impact on the patient’s life and that the impacts can be demonstrated readily by their performance and behavior (Kottler, 2005). The basic concepts of compassion fatigue are emotional, cognitive, spiritual somatic and behavior. These concepts translate into symptoms and warning signs that characterize the condition. Standard warning signs for the phenomena on are: Stress and decreased satisfaction Feelings of inadequacy and anger Low self-esteem and depression Feelings of hopelessness and uncertainty Disrupted sleep cycle and moods Physical discomforts such as headache and backache Loss pleasure for work and other activities Drug and substance abuse Compassion fatigue stands out as a major threat the nursing profession and the quality of health services in the country. This is because health conditions resulting from compassion fatigue not only affect the health of the caregivers also the public health. Compassion, fatigue stands out as a major threat to nursing and therefore, it should not be overlooked. In most cases, the condition begins as a caregiver burnout before developing into a full-scale compassion fatigue. It is believed that the current social and economic stress among the people have worsened the problem. According to Charles file an author of a compassion fatigue articles, our health systems fail to meet the absolute cost of caring for patients. His analysis, considers the problem as a misplaced cost where a nurse or a caregiver is forced to bear the burdens of care giving. The researcher argues that this happens due to the inconspicuous nature of such costs. For instance, a female nurse attending to a female rape victim may develop disgust feelings for rapists, which she might extend as generalized feelings towards men. This will affect her performance in relation to how she handles male patients and colleagues. It has been established the problem is more prevalent amongst the most effective health workers (Kottler, 2005). This is because their needs for outstanding performances expose them to risks. Mary Van, a children welfare worker in New York considers compassion fatigue as a secondary condition that has rapid and onset symptoms. According to her explanation, health workers suffering from compassion fatigue, experience symptoms of trauma, which include fear, lack of sleep running mind and absent-mindedness. Needs of Caregivers Although there is no known cure or solution for compassion fatigue, caregivers are encouraged to evaluate their physical, spiritual and emotional needs in order to contain the situation. Compassion fatigue begins as an emotional problem before developing into a spiritual and a physical problem. This indicates that caregivers require taking care of their emotional needs in order to enhance their health or avoid the problem. Emotions and feelings are common among healthcare providers and caregivers. Caregivers are often faced with feelings of anxiety, sadness, grief, anger and frustration. Emotional needs of a caregiver are personal needs, feelings and desires that cannot be compensated by ones professional. Therefore, caregivers need to consider their feelings and emotion as much as they care for those of other patients. In addition, health workers have emotional needs that affect their health and services. Physical needs are the factors required to maintain physical health among caregivers. For instance, caregivers require proper diet, adequate sleep, proper eating habit s and regular exercises. Other than physical and emotional needs, caregivers are often faced by spiritual dilemma. The controversies surrounding care giving as a health science and life as a spiritual aspect is a major cause of compassion fatigue (Ruff-King, 2007). Spiritual needs have different implication among different people. However, faith or the meaning for life and death are the basis of spiritual requirement for caregivers. Although health care considers health and life as a physical or scientific aspect, spirituality plays a significance role in defining life and death. Coping with Compassion Fatigue Coping with compassion fatigue requires caregivers to address their physical, emotional and spiritual needs. Caregivers need to adopt different strategies in order to cope with problems resulting from compassion fatigue. Firstly, caregivers needs be concerned with their welfare in a similar manner as they are concerned with the welfare of their patients (Ruff-King, 2007). This is because lack of concern for their welfare affects the welfare of their patients and profession. Caregivers also need to adopt healthy lifestyles in order to cope with the situation. Healthy lifestyles include regular physical exercise, appropriate eating habits, regular sleep and healthy diets. Caregivers also need to be concerned about their spiritual health. This will require them to have time to reflect about their lives and believes. Consulting professional councilors will also enable caregivers to cope with problems relating to compassion fatigue. Conclusion Compassion fatigue is a condition that affects caregivers due their extended care and compassion for their patient. Although companionate care is unprofessional, most caregivers tolerate the behavior due to its ethical impacts. Tolerating the effects of compassionate fatigue is the basic factor that contributes to the problems resulting from compassionate fatigue. Compassionate fatigue is demonstrated as short term or long-term emotional, spiritual or physical breakdown among caregivers. This condition is often demonstrated as symptoms of stress, fatigue, anxiety, unhealthy lifestyles and low self-esteem. Caregivers can cope with these symptoms by addressing their physical, emotional and spiritual needs. Each of the three aspects requires a different initiative and approach. Coping with compassionate fatigue contributes to the health of caregivers and improves their performance. References Joinson, C. (2007). "Coping with compassion fatigue". In Nursing, 22:4, 116-122. Kottler, J. A. (2005). Compassionate Therapy: Working with Difficult Clients. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Ruff-King, M. (2007). Compassion Fatigue in Nursing. Nursesus. Retrieved from: http://www.nursesusa.org/safety_compassion_fatigue.asp Read More