How Do Nurses Overcome Compassion Fatigue?

It has been suggested that in order for nurses to overcome compassion fatigue, they need to stop focusing on the stressful aspects of being a helper and begin to consider ways in which their work brings a sense of fulfillment (Radey & Figley, 2007). The phrase compassion satisfaction is used to describe this feeling of accomplishment that results from the process of helping others and brings nurses back to the altruistic reasons they had picked the profession in the first place. Radey & Figley (2007) argued that the perception of work-related stress can be reframed as a source of strength instead of fatigue, bringing the impression of success and enjoyment in one’s role as a nurse. Through the development of compassion satisfaction, nurses will begin to notice how their roles have helped clients work through personal suffering and into a place of personal growth and responsibility (Stamm, 2005).