Compassion Fatigue in Pediatric Nurses

• Compassion fatigue negatively impacts quality of patient care and nurse wellbeing.
• Pediatric nurses are at risk of developing compassion fatigue due to secondary trauma.
• The Professional Quality of Life survey assessed the prevalence of compassion fatigue.
• Nearly 30% of our nurse participants had high burnout and secondary traumatic stress.
• Resilience is linked to improved quality of life, health and coping in nurses.

Compassion fatigue in nursing has been shown to impact the quality of patient care and employee satisfaction and engagement. The aims of this study were to determine the prevalence and severity of compassion fatigue among pediatric nurses and variations in prevalence based on respondent demographics using a cross-sectional survey design. Nurses under 40 years of age, with 6–10 years of experience and/or working in a medical–surgical unit had significantly lower compassion satisfaction and higher levels of burnout. Secondary traumatic stress from caring for children with severe illness or injury or end of life was a key contributor to compassion fatigue.