When nurses experience compassion fatigue – and how to fix it

Work pressures can cause emotional and physical exhaustion, leading to irritability, low self-esteem and, ultimately, compassion fatigue. Maintaining compassion is vital for patient care quality, nurses’ job satisfaction and mental health, as well as staff retention. The ability to self-care and recognise signs of emotional fatigue in yourself or others is important, as are team leaders and colleagues with empathy providing support to help 'fix' compassion fatigue and also help prevent staff burnout.