Texas Health Resources nurses are deploying a number of strategies to overcome compassion fatigue while continuing to care for COVID-19 patients. From counseling and teamwork to mindfulness and self-care, these strategies are helping nurses stay mentally, physically and emotionally strong as the pandemic continues.
Different from burnout, compassion fatigue features physical and mental exhaustion and emotional withdrawal experienced by those who care for sick or traumatized people over a long period.
“It is a condition experienced by caregivers where it feels like all of their compassion is drained out of them, and they are desensitized to the needs of those around them,” said Sheree Henson, Ph.D., R.N., NPD-BC, NEA-BC, system director, Nursing Professional Practice, Research and Magnet®.
Sheree has a passion for helping prevent the condition, even making it the focus of her post-doctorate research.
If we can curtail stress and burnout, we can stop the process of sliding into compassion fatigue,” she said. “I want to battle it before we see it.”
Texas Health nurses recommend a number of tools and strategies that have worked for them
- Pause and breathe. Malorie Bishop, B.S.N., R.N., CMSRN, Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Southwest Fort Worth, fought back from compassion fatigue last year. One of her practical strategies was to take time to pause and breathe throughout her shifts. She wrote “pause” on her left hand and “breathe” on her right hand as a reminder.
- Review your shift. “At the end of your shift, you need to ask yourself, ‘did I do everything in my ability to provide the best care I could with the time and resources I had?,’ and then you need to leave it all at work,” Malorie said.
- Use the W.O.R.T.H. mindfulness strategy. Emily Estill, B.S.N., RNC-OB, supervisor, Labor and Delivery, Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Hurst-
- Euless-Bedford, completed a project focusing on using the W.O.R.T.H. mindfulness strategy (see sidebar) for combatting nurse burnout and compassion fatigue as part of her Texas Christian University Evidence-Based Practice Fellowship. “Mindfulness in nursing is about being able to experience everything around you so you can separate from it,” she said. “It’s easy to start taking on the emotions of your patients’ journeys. It’s healthy to be able to step back and realize that ‘This is my patient’s life; it’s not my life.'”
- Support each other. Mikey Steves, R.N., B.S.N., PBCN, Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Plano, says that the supportive nurses on her unit, which now is a COVID-19 unit, have helped her combat stress. “A positive attitude really rubs off on others,” she said.
- Access support provided by Texas Health. “Texas Health is really keyed into the fact that we have to protect our people,” Sheree said. Texas Health offers several resources to help nurses cope with stress, including:
- Free, confidential counseling through the Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
- Virtual Self-Care Check-In discussions led by the EAP
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- Critical Incident Stress Management services for support following a sudden, emotional event (request through your manager)
- Chaplains
- Childcare and school support resources
- Backup care services
- Take time for self-care. Self-care can include getting rest, spending time outdoors, exercising, joining a faith community and spending time with loved ones. “Many times, the best way to help your team is to take care of yourself,” Sheree said. For Mikey, self-care includes unplugging from the media and focusing on her children, ages 1 and 3. “I try to really enjoy them and be present with them when I am at home,” she said.
Using these techniques, Malorie is back providing the compassionate, quality care she always dreamed she would.
“I was able to reset my focus and energy, and now I’m back to the peak of loving my job,” she said.
What tips and techniques work best for you? Share in the comments section.
By Laura Johnson • Posted August 13, 2020
