3^rd Euro Nursing and Medicare Summit

Biography

Biography: Daniel Doherty

Abstract

Healthcare providers are socially recognized and required by society to care and their job involves personal investment to fulfill their role. There are significant effects associated with the providing patient care; including burnout and compassion fatigue which we are all very familiar with. However, there is another less familiar yet more profound effect called vicarious trauma. Vicarious trauma is an internal transformation caused by repeated exposure to experiences in dealing with pain, suffering, and death daily. The result may be lingering intrusive images, avoidance behaviors, isolating physically, anxiety, detachment, and feelings of isolation. It is important to examine the challenge of separating work from one’s personal life. Organization’s suffer with higher absenteeism, changes in co-workers’ relationships, and possible outbreaks of aggressive behaviors among staff. Stress related to intense working environments and high patient acuity are some of the main reasons newer nurses leave the profession. Review of the literature, while showing the prevalence of burnout and compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma does not provide information on useful, effective interventions to prevent these complications of the healthcare work. Proactive coping is more future-oriented, with having in place general resources to overcome challenging experiences and allow the nurse to cope more effectively. The inservice will provide very specific strategies for health promotion behaviors and resiliency; how to put these very specific acquired insights into practice to decrease or minimize the effect of working with the sick, dying, and/or critically ill patients and families.