When working with a medical staffing agency, you may be faced with compassion fatigue on the job. This is common for physicians, nurses, psychotherapists and emergency workers who help patients to overcome sometimes traumatic experiences. As a result, healthcare professionals may develop or experience their own Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. While working travel nursing jobs, it’s important to understand what compassion fatigue is and to know how to deal with it.
By definition
When medical professionals begin to struggle with their day-to-day responsibilities due to emotional challenges, they may be dealing with PTSD as a result of compassion fatigue. Because of this, you may find that you begin to lose your resilience on the job, which can make it more difficult to properly aid patients. Generally, this is simply the cause of chronic stress brought on by work.
Symptoms
When a previously upbeat and positive healthcare individual becomes cynical, it could be the result of compassion fatigue. Some travel nursing professionals may even become annoyed or frustrated with their patients in situations that would typically have been resolved in a calm manner. In general, people often experience a loss in satisfaction when it comes to working. If you are concerned that you may be suffering from compassion fatigue, there’s a good chance that you are correct.
In practice
According to Psychology Today, a survey found that 86.9 percent of the emergency response personnel who participated had symptoms of compassion fatigue. This is an astonishingly high number, and begs the question as to how patients suffer as a result. Although this can vary on a case-by-case basis, there’s no doubt that care would improve if those providing it weren’t also taking on PTSD. So, what does one do about it?
Solutions
As a travel nurse, you are responsible for the well-being of patients you deal with while on assignment. This means that you need to take on your compassion fatigue and find a solution for the problem. The most important step is realizing there’s something wrong and addressing it head on. Instead of dwelling on it, do something that makes you happy. For instance, spend time knitting, at the movies or outdoors hiking. A little ‘you’ time just might do the trick. If you feel as though this is not improving your state of mind, you may want to consider talking to someone who is a good listener about what you’re faced with. This could be a professional or co-worker who understands on a very real level what you are going through.
In the healthcare industry, it’s imperative to take care of oneself in order to be capable of providing the necessary treatment to patients. Although mentors can help you through the learning process and friends may be able to provide emotional support, you are responsible for ensuring that you are being the best travel nurse possible. In addition to spending time in a career that you love, make sure that you are doing things outside of work that also make you happy.