Compassion Fatigue and Empathy among Nurses Working in Adult Intensive Care Units, PGIMER, Chandigarh 2019–20

Abstract

Objectives: To assess and compare the level of empathy and compassion fatigue among nurses working in the adult intensive care units. Methodology: A descriptive-comparative study design was adopted and total 120 nurses (Male= 60, Female= 60) were purposively selected. Participant’s information questionnaire, Professionals quality of life scale and Toronto empathy questionnaire were used for the data collection. Research setting was adult intensive care units of PGIMER, Chandigarh, India. The data were analyzed using SPSS (version 20). Result: Mean age of the male and female participants was 32.25 and 30.43years respectively. Most of the nurses were graduates and more than half had 1–5years intensive care unit working experience. Level of empathy was significantly higher (0.05) in female nurses as compared to male nurses. Correlation analysis showed that empathy had significant and positive association with compassion satisfaction and had negative relationship with burnout and secondary traumatic stress. Highly significant; negative relationship exists between compassion satisfaction and burnout. Burnout and secondary traumatic stress showed significant and positive association with each other. Conclusion: Empathetic and compassionate nursing professionals would be able to handle fatalistic aspects of exposure to mankind sufferings and illnesses. Negative association of burnout with compassion satisfaction and empathy will also contribute towards patient care provided by nurses in intensive care settings.

Keywords: Empathy, compassion satisfaction, burnout, secondary traumatic stress

Cite this Article

Baljinder Kaur, Hema Ram, Lovepreet Kaur, Rajendra Yadav, Shikha Pandey, Monika Dutta, Prabhjot Kaur, Navneet Dhaliwal. Compassion Fatigue and Empathy among Nurses Working in Adult Intensive Care Units, PGIMER, Chandigarh 2019–20. Research & Reviews: A Journal of Health Professions. 2020; 10(3): 19–29p.