What is Compassion Fatigue?
This term describes the physical and emotional exhaustion that results from repeatedly dealing with the stress and trauma of others, also known as 'the cost of caring.'
What is
Compassion fatigue (cf)
True or False: Compassion fatigue presents the same way in every caregiver, making it easy to recognize across a team
What is
False
**CF is different for every person. Some show irritability or anger, others sadness and withdrawal, and others physical symptoms
Compassion fatigue disrupts the balance of these two emotional capacities, replacing them with detachment
What is
Sympothy and empathy
**both are replaced with emotional withdrawal
What is the direct professional consequence when an employee’s empathy and engagement decline due to CF
What is
Declining quality of care
At the individual level, what are two evidence-based self-care strategies that are effective buffers against compassion fatigue
What is
This model, developed by Charles Figley, identifies compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress
What is
The professional quality of life model
**currently the most widely used screening tool for compassion fatigue
This warning sign involves an inability to concentrate, memory lapses, poor judgment, and difficulty making decisions
What is
Cognitive impairment
What are the three short-term psychosomatic symptoms related to CF
What is
A co-worker can spot CF within another employee. What are two behaviors that might be noticed
What is
At the organizational level, leaders can mitigate CF team-wide through these three types of institutional strategies
What is
Compassion fatigue develops specifically from this source of exposure to another person's pain or trauma
What is
Empathic engagement / indirect trauma exposure
**compassion fatigue disproportionately affects those in caregiving roles, such as dietitians, nurses, and social workers.
An RD who loved meal planning and found it rewarding now dreads having to do it for their patient. This shift in emotional engagement is known as what?
What is
Depersonalization
**early to mid stage warning sign, different from general fatigue because of its link to empathic work
What are the long term chronic health conditions that stem from untreated CF
What is
Research shows that compassion fatigue has driven both new and experienced professionals to take this extreme career step, sometimes permanently
What is
Leaving their profession
An RD manager wants to prevent compassion fatigue before it escalates. Research by Figley suggests this three-part framework: prevention, ___, and minimizing consequences
Assessment
Research shows that RD’s who work with ED patients report burnout at this approximate rate
What is
57.5% burnout rate
**one of the highest in the allied health professions
In Figley’s model, CF is gradual and develops in stages. What are the 3 stages?
What is
What are the psychiatric conditions that can be caused by CF
What is
What is lost within a workplace when an entire team experiences compassion fatigue
What is
Organizational culture / cohesion
This final-stage intervention involves structured professional support such as clinical supervision, counseling, and a formal peer support network
What is
Treatment level intervention
**includes trauma-informed supervision and restructuring employee workloads