Program Helps Caregivers With Compassion Fatigue
Posted By: Kathy Holleman 
Date Posted: January 3rd, 2012 Category: Caregiving
ST. LOUIS – Caring for others has a cost.
“Oh, yeah. That’s why I got out of it,” says a former oncology nurse at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. The nurse, who remained anonymous, worked on an inpatient oncology floor. Many of her patients fought aggressive, relentless cancers during multiple hospital admissions.
“You’d become attached to them and you knew what their outcome was likely to be,” she said. “They’d deteriorate and die and it would break your heart. It happened over and over again. It was very stress-producing.”
The nurse eventually moved to another position in the hospital that didn’t involve direct patient care.
Wilhelmina Roney prepares a treatment for patient Frank Ratino at Barnes-Jewish Hospital Photo by: Tim Mudrovic
A new program at Barnes-Jewish Hospital aims to reduce stories like this one by helping staff alleviate “compassion fatigue.” The program, developed specifically for the Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine by a pioneer in the field of compassion fatigue, is unique in the U.S., say program coordinators.
See also:
Wall Street Journal: When Nurses Catch Compassion Fatigue, Patients Suffer