Combating Compassion Fatigue: Rekindling Your Passion for Nursing

As a nurse, you naturally empathize with the patients you provide care for. Feeling compassion for your patients can make you a nurse who’s more understanding, kind, and able to provide personalized attention. There can be a downside, however, to caring too much about others, which is sometimes referred to as compassion fatigue.

Let’s dive deeper into what nursing compassion fatigue means, signs that could indicate you’re experiencing this, and ways that you can find relief while continuing to provide high-quality patient care.

What Is Compassion Fatigue?

Compassion fatigue means that you feel exhausted from experiencing the emotional challenges of those around you. When you experience compassion fatigue, you feel the stresses, burdens, weighty emotions, or traumas of the people you serve or interact with.

Although compassion fatigue can happen to anyone, it is most common among those who work in professions where the focus is on helping others, such as nurses, therapists, doctors, and professional caregivers. These people are often most at risk for compassion fatigue because of the delicate balance they have to strike between caring about their patients, clients, or other populations they serve while remaining professional.

How Compassion Fatigue Affects Nurses

As a nurse, you deliver high-quality patient care all day long. You have to juggle a lot of responsibilities that require technical expertise and a wide breadth of medical knowledge.

But you’re also a great nurse because you can empathize with what your patients are going through and listen to their struggles. It can be difficult to take on your patients’ emotional weight as your own.

Whether you’re seeing patients who are terminally ill, in emergency situations, severely depressed, or have undergone traumatic experiences, it can be incredibly challenging to just leave all that behind at the end of a long shift.

Signs of Nursing Compassion Fatigue

Compassion fatigue can manifest differently for everyone, but some common indications of compassion fatigue among nurses include:

Sleep troubles, such as oversleeping, insomnia, or a perpetual feeling of exhaustion
Anxiety
Feeling more cynical
Feeling overwhelmed while on duty
Loss of interest in hobbies or activities you used to like
Social withdrawal or increased tension in relationships
Mood swings
Feelings of intense helplessness around patients
Physical symptoms like headaches or stomachaches
Depression
Feelings of irritability or being quick to anger
Addiction to alcohol, drugs, or overworking
Difficulty concentrating on work, completing tasks, or making decisions
Changes in appetite
A loss in sense of purpose
Difficulty meeting your own basic needs
Feeling emotionally depleted

Why Finding Relief From Nursing Compassion Fatigue Matters

It’s important to try and mitigate your compassion fatigue as soon as you notice it. Ignoring compassion fatigue could make your symptoms worse and lead to other physical or emotional issues, such as:

A decrease in the job satisfaction you get from being a nurse
An increase in risk for chronic health conditions like obesity, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes
An increase in being susceptible to mental health concerns like personality disorders, eating disorders, clinical depression or anxiety, and hypochondria

Compassion fatigue can also have negative effects on your patients. If you struggle to be as productive on the job and are less attentive to your patients, they will likely be less satisfied with your care.

It’s important to also look out for signs of compassion fatigue among your fellow nurses and other healthcare providers you work with. When nurses or other healthcare specialists become overwhelmed with compassion fatigue, they may be more likely to burn out and leave the profession entirely. This can lead to high turnover rates and a shortage of quality patient care across healthcare disciplines.

Is Compassion Fatigue The Same as Burnout?

Although there is some overlap between burnout and compassion fatigue, they are separate conditions.

Both burnout and compassion fatigue are common among those who work in demanding jobs. They also can both produce similar symptoms, including:

Feelings of exhaustion
Emotional depletion
Feeling alienated from others
Feeling more pessimistic
Trouble concentrating
Feelings of anxiety or constantly worrying
Not being able to perform as well at work
Irritability
Struggling to find a sense of purpose
Physical symptoms like stomachaches and headaches
Difficulty sleeping through the night or sleeping too much

Despite this overlap in symptoms, compassion fatigue and burnout are fundamentally different conditions. Burnout is the result of being overworked and not effectively managing chronic stress. By contrast, compassion fatigue is a trauma response to constantly providing empathy to people undergoing extreme challenges.

In other words, the causes of compassion fatigue and burnout are distinct, which means that the strategies for recovering from both are different. People who are burnt out try to prioritize managing chronic stress while on the job. In comparison, those experiencing compassion fatigue strive to set stronger emotional boundaries both with others and with themselves.

How Nurses Can Mitigate Compassion Fatigue

It can be challenging to care for yourself while also providing top-notch care to your patients. But having strategies to ease your compassion fatigue can not only make you a better caregiver to your patients, but also help you feel less burn and prevent you potentially developing more serious chronic diseases.

Below are some practical tactics and exercises you can use to combat nursing compassion fatigue:

Practice Self-Care

Make sure that you’re caring for yourself. Strive to eat a balanced diet and exercise regularly. We know these things are easier said than done when you’re a nurse working long shifts, but there are some strategies you can use to make self-care more attainable. For instance, you might want to try meal prepping dishes for the week in advance of working several shifts in a row, or perform basic physical exercises like squats that don’t require any equipment when you have a few free minutes during a shift.

Learn Mindfulness Techniques

Studies suggest that mindfulness exercises can both prevent and reduce compassion fatigue among nurses. Mindfulness essentially refers to a practice that connects you more with the present moment rather than being preoccupied with the past or future. Techniques for mindfulness can include:

Breathing exercises, such as placing a hand on your diaphragm as you breathe
Repeating positive affirmations either in your head or quietly to yourself, like “I show myself the same compassion that I show my patients”
Mindfulness meditation, which involves actively focusing on your feelings and the sensations in your body
Gently applying pressure to acupressure points on your hands, head, or other easy to access places on your body
Stillness meditation, which is about doing your best to block out all external and internal stimuli
Doing basic stretches such as neck rolls, side bends, arm circles, or hamstring stretches
Progressive muscle relaxation, which involves deliberately tensing then relaxing one muscle at a time

Take Time Off From Work

Sometimes, it might be necessary to do a full reset by taking time off from your busy nursing job. Giving yourself a vacation, even if it’s just for a day or two, can help you both recharge and figure out how to practice and maintain your emotional boundaries while at work.

Connect With Loved Ones

Make time to be with your friends and family. Feeling emotionally exhausted can make you withdrawn and less likely to want to spend time with people. That said, sustaining relationships with your loved ones during difficult times can actually make you feel more fulfilled, so long as you effectively communicate your own emotional state and boundaries. Even if it’s just a phone call or coffee break, be sure to nurture your relationships outside of work.

Pursue Hobbies

Try to carve out time for your hobbies or interests outside of your nursing job. Whether there is a hobby you haven’t done for a while that you love or an activity you’ve always wanted to try, give yourself permission to do it. Activities outside of work can engage different parts of your brain and help alleviate stress.

Bond With Colleagues

Talk to your fellow nurses about compassion fatigue. Chances are they can relate to a lot of what you’re experiencing and may even be able to offer advice. Connecting with other nurses and healthcare providers who are also dealing with emotional exhaustion can help you feel less alone.

Seek Professional Help

If the above strategies aren’t helping, it might be time to get help from a professional. Since compassion fatigue is a type of trauma, a counselor or therapist who is trained in helping others manage traumatic experiences could be exactly what you need. Knowing when to ask for help will ultimately help you be a more effective caregiver to both yourself and your patients.

Let CE Ready Help With Compassion Fatigue

If you’re struggling with compassion fatigue, the last thing you need is more stress in your life. Simplify the process of completing the continuing education units (CEUs) needed to renew your nursing license by leaning on CE Ready.

Our CEUs are affordable, easy to sign up for, and meet state licensure requirements. Take a look at our course catalog today so you can easily check off your CEUs from your to-do list and focus instead on prioritizing your emotional well-being.