Articles: empathy.
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Nursing & health sciences · Jun 2010
Compassion fatigue within nursing practice: a concept analysis.
"Compassion fatigue" was first introduced in relation to the study of burnout among nurses, but it was never defined within this context; it has since been adopted as a synonym for secondary traumatic stress disorder, which is far removed from the original meaning of the term. The aim of the study was to define compassion fatigue within nursing practice. The method that was used in this article was concept analysis. ⋯ The characteristics of each of these categories are specified and a connotative (theoretical) definition, model case, additional cases, empirical indicators, and a denotative (operational) definition are provided. Compassion fatigue progresses from a state of compassion discomfort to compassion stress and, finally, to compassion fatigue, which if not effaced in its early stages of compassion discomfort or compassion stress, can permanently alter the compassionate ability of the nurse. Recommendations for nursing practice, education, and research are discussed.
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Knowing person as caring is integral to holistic nursing practices. Before a nurse can know other as caring, there must be an intentional focus on knowing self as caring. The purpose of this article is to describe practicing nurses' living of Knowing, Patience, and Courage. This study is part of a larger ongoing study focused on grounding an entire organization in caring values.
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The aim of this study was to explore the presence of compassion fatigue in family carers who assist staff with care of older relatives in long-term settings. ⋯ Nurses working in long-term care settings should educate family carers about compassion fatigue, recognise its presence in them and provide support to family carers experiencing the condition.
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Pediatr Crit Care Me · May 2010
Case ReportsHome extubation by a pediatric critical care team: providing a compassionate death outside the pediatric intensive care unit.
Our objective is to present a case report of home extubation by a pediatric intensive care team in a terminally ill pediatric patient. Literature relevant to home extubation will be reviewed. The design is a case report. ⋯ Before offering home extubation to families, hospitals should prepare families for the experience and address the availability of staff to comfort parents and provide bereavement support. Medicolegal as well as cost issues for the hospital related to home extubation should be explored before the implementation of a program of this nature. This case illustrates that home extubation is a creative, compassionate, and culturally sensitive alternative to hospital-based end-of-life care involving the pediatric intensivist, transport teams, and primary care physicians.