Preventing Compassion Fatigue and Burnout Among First Year Pediatric Oncology Nurses: Best Practices

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis was to explore best practices for prevention of nurse compassion fatigue and burnout within the first year of pediatric oncology nursing practice. The oncology population has the highest use of palliative and end of life care services compared to any other field clinical population (Hughes & Smith, 2014). Within the pediatric oncology population, 58% of the Children’s Oncology group has a palliative care team, and this has also been on the rise (Hughes & Smith, 2014). Palliative and end of life care encompass the transition from a curative to a palliative approach which causes many nurses to face ethical dilemmas regarding the decisions for the patient’s care. Nurses play a major role within the interprofessional team as a care coordinator and patient and family advocate during critical transitions in care. A new nurse in this role, however, can have difficulty with the duties and responsibilities of the care due to challenging patient care decisions, which can lead to compassion fatigue and burnout within the first year of practice. Through a literature search, fifteen articles were chosen for inclusion of this thesis, from which three evidence-based interventions were developed. Implementing educational workshops, high- fidelity simulations, and bereavement debriefing sessions would provide first year pediatric oncology nurses with the knowledge background and with organizational support necessary for the demanding field.