Speaker 1 0:01

Today I want you nurses to listen right up , because you really are major sufferers of compassion fatigue , but you may not even realize it . In today's episode of the podcast , I want to go right through exactly where compassion fatigue fits in what compassion fatigue is and how to recognise it and what there is that you can do about it . Shift work can be brutal , but it doesn't have to be . Welcome to a healthy shift . My name is Roger Sutherland , certified Nutritionist , veteran Law Enforcement Officer and 24-7 shift worker for almost four decades . Through this podcast , I aim to educate shift workers , using evidence-based methods , to not only survive the rigours of shift work , but thrive . My goal is to empower shift workers to improve their health and wellbeing so they have more energy to do the things they love . Enjoy today's show . Hello and welcome to A Healthy Shift , the podcast where we discuss evidence-based strategies to help you , the shift worker , thrive and not just survive Me . I'm your host , roger Sutherland , and today I would really like to discuss a recent research paper or journal article on a very important topic , which is compassion fatigue among oncology nurses in Australia . Now , this is really important . Now I don't want to put everybody else off because we're talking about nurses , because there are a lot of people that are literally going to identify with us and go oh my God , maybe that's something that I am suffering from , and once you understand more about it , you may be in a position where you will then know what to do about it . Now , as shift workers , we all know just how demanding and emotionally draining our work can be , but , in particular , for oncology nurses . What are they doing ? They're working tirelessly , caring for patients battling cancer . Now the emotional toll of this can lead to what's called compassion fatigue or CF . Now there is a new study by Banks and colleagues , which has been published in the European Journal of Oncology Nursing , which has shed light on this issue , and today in the podcast , I'd really like to break down the findings and what they mean for our shift workers and how we can apply these lessons to support your health and well-being . I think one of the most important areas for us to start here is to find out what is compassion fatigue . So first of all , let's look at all levels of stress so that you can learn and understand exactly where compassion fatigue fits in . This is important .

Speaker 1 3:04

Now , stress levels progress through a spectrum which begin with mild stress and escalate to severe conditions like you ready , compassion , fatigue . It is at the very top of the tree . Now . Below is evidence-based progression of stress levels . So we start off with eustress , which is positive stress . Now this is the sort of stress that enhances performance . For us it's the kind of stress that we get when we're in the gym . And then we have mild stress , which is a low-level stress that may cause a slight discomfort , but it is manageable .

Speaker 1 3:41

You can get mild irritability or restlessness , slight muscle tension , minor difficulty sleeping or concentrating . And then we go to acute stress , which is short-term stress triggered by immediate demands or threats which can increase our heartbeat . We can get sweaty or shallow breathing and we can also have emotional outbursts . We then get episodic acute stress , which is repeated . Episodes of acute stress which often tied to ongoing demands of or poor time management , chronic headaches , tense muscles , mood swings or feeling overwhelmed . Now I'm not going to go through all of them , I'll keep stressing out there's chronic stress .

Speaker 1 4:22

Then we get to burnout , which we always talk about . Oh , it's burnout . What is burnout ? Burnout is emotional , physical and mental exhaustion which is caused by prolonged and excessive stress , particularly in caregiving or demanding roles . Hello to our first responders , nurses and doctors and anybody else that's in a caregiving role at all . This is really important that people understand . We can end up with burnout very easily Now . The symptoms of this is lack of motivation or energy , reduced productivity , emotional numbness or cynicism and feeling detached from your work or your personal life . Now that's burnout .

Speaker 1 5:02

Then we get to secondary traumatic stress , which is a stress from an indirect exposure to trauma , particularly in caregiving or high stress professions . And then , at the very top of the tree , we get to compassion fatigue . Now compassion fatigue is defined as a severe state of physical , emotional and mental exhaustion from prolonged exposure to caregiving or empathizing with others in distress , often referred to as quote unquote the cost of caring . Now the symptoms that we might experience here is feeling emotionally drained or apathetic , a loss of empathy or compassion , sleep disturbances in your own life , feelings of guilt , hopelessness or even just resentment , and physical symptoms like headache or an immune system decline in yourself . Now compassion fatigue is the emotional and physical exhaustion that can result from caring for people who are suffering . Now it often manifests as burnout , secondary traumatic stress and just a decreased ability to feel compassion . Now , if we think about our poor oncology nurses , they are dealing with not only death of patients , but they are also dealing with the trauma from the families at the same time and this is real and pressing challenge just because of the nature of their work Constantly supporting patients and families during some of the most difficult times in their life . Now this new research is the first national survey of compassion fatigue amongst Australian oncology nurses and it paints a pretty detailed picture of the problem and keep in mind that this research has been done in Australia as well .

Speaker 1 6:58

So what were the key findings from the study ? Let's break that down . First of all , the good news . The majority of the nurses reported moderate levels of compassion fatigue sorry , compassion satisfaction , meaning they still found a sense of fulfillment and purpose in their work . No participants reported extreme levels of burnout or secondary traumatic stress , and that's a good thing . Now , in age and experience , it plays a huge role . Younger nurses and those with less experience reported higher levels of burnout and stress , while the older nurses had a greater compassion satisfaction . And this ties in with a lot of what I'm learning at the moment around , where employers are employing these younger staff that are having more problems , and that's where there is a massive issue in relation to this More on that in another podcast .

Speaker 1 8:01

Interestingly also , formal oncology training was also seen as a protective factor . So nurses who completed formal training had significantly higher compassion satisfaction , suggesting that education may in fact equipment with the tools to manage the emotional demands of their roles . So education is key , and shift work and work settings also matter . Nurses working in rotating shifts or inpatient settings reported lower compassion satisfaction and higher burnout compared to those in more stable roles . So just to revisit that , nurses that were working their regular day shifts had less problems than the nurses working rotating shifts or in an inpatient setting . Very interesting , once again shows the impact of rotating shift work . And finally , personality traits made a difference as well . Extroverted nurses , those who were naturally outgoing and social , reported higher levels of compassion satisfaction and lower levels of burnout and stress , whereas , on the flip side , nurses with higher emotionality scores or those who were more sensitive and reactive were a lot more vulnerable to compassion fatigue . Interesting , so what were the implications for practice ?

Speaker 1 9:34

So let's talk about what we can actually learn from this research , because I think this is really important . While the study focused on oncology nurses , these insights are relative and relevant for anybody that is working in a high-stress , emotionally-charged environment , which includes shift workers like you and me and all nurses . This research has actually focused on oncology nurses , but let's not forget that nurses are caring for people all the time . Paramedics are caring for people all the time and they're people that are looking for help and they're dealing with the trauma of people on the peripheral all the time , and it's not easy . So here are some actionable takeaways that we can work with in relation to this .

Speaker 1 10:26

We need to support our younger and inexperienced workers . Organizations must prioritize mentorship and educational programs to help their younger workers to develop a resilience . So if you're new to shift work or you're struggling , seek out experienced mentors like myself who can guide and support you , and let's work together on that . Number two is the value of training . If you're in a specialized field like oncology , investing in formal training can make a huge difference in your ability to handle the emotional demands , and this is something that we should be advocating for within organisations . I honestly believe that you , as the worker , are someone who should be campaigning to your HR . What are you doing to educate and look after us as caregivers ? That's something that really needs to be put up a line as a work safe or whatever it is an accident prevention strategy . Remember , mental health can be an accident , a workplace injury .

Speaker 1 11:38

To start off with Creating supportive work environments . Now , this is a big one , because the study found that the healthy work environment , with strong leadership , adequate staffing and robust support systems can actually reduce burnout and secondary stress , while increasing job satisfaction . Now , leaders , take note your team's well-being depends on your ability to create a culture of care , so you need to care for your staff as well , because they're caring for patients . They're making you look good , so what we need to be doing is we need to be making sure that our leaders are leaders in their field . The other thing that we need to understand is personality traits , so recognising personality traits can help identify those who may need extra support . For example , if you know you're more emotionally reactive , learn how to implement self-care strategies , and seeking support early may just help to protect against some form of compassion fatigue . Now I want to talk about shift workers everywhere here , because what does this mean for you as the shift worker outside of the oncology ? And the bottom line is this self-awareness and supportive work environment are critical Now .

Speaker 1 12:57

Whether you're a nurse , a first responder or you're working in any other demanding role . It is vital to advocate for resources and practices that protect your mental and emotional health , and for organisations . This study is a wake-up call for you . Shift work and emotionally demanding roles require tailored interventions like training programs , supportive leadership and policies that address burnout and secondary stress , and the report , or the research here , puts recommendations there that this is what needs to be done . So we can't continually ignore that we need to be doing these things Training programs , supportive leadership , policies around you know that are addressing burnout situations . We can't just push people until they burn out and then just discard them . The days are gone to be doing that . So , to wrap this up , this study actually gives us hope . It's another study that I'm reading a lot at the moment , and it's another study which is putting recommendations in place that workplaces need to take action of . They need to be putting strategies in place to support and help their staff , because , focusing on mentorship , education , a supportive environment and self-care , we can not only survive , but we can literally thrive in our roles .

Speaker 1 14:33

If you're an oncology nurse , a shift worker or anyone struggling with burnout or compassion fatigue , remember this you are not alone . There are tools , resources and strategies to help you to navigate these challenges . I would highly recommend that if you recognize any of these signs in yourself , get onto it early . Have a conversation with your physician , with your general practitioner , your doctor . Have a conversation with them , get a healthcare plan put in place . It is free of charge here in Australia and anywhere else . Seek support around this because compassion fatigue is worse than burnout . It is worse than any higher level stress . It is worse than PTSD in these situations it's been listed here , so please make sure you get help in relation to it .

Speaker 1 15:32

And if you're a manager and you're listening to this , I'm available to run health and wellbeing seminars in your workplace where you can show your staff that you are supporting them . Educating your staff on ways to go about how to thrive in your shift working environment is vital and a vital part of ticking that box in the health and well-being you don't have the time to be able to teach people . Learn about shift work , understand shift work . I do , I've done shift work for 40 years and I'm also educated around strategies to implement into shift working environments to help you . So you can reach out via the link in the show notes and I would be more than happy to have a conversation with you and come to your workplace and deliver a shift work specific health and wellbeing seminar where I can help your staff to reduce your unplanned leave , to increase your productivity , to reduce the staff turnover rate of what you're having , and and hold on to your experienced staff and show them you care , improve morale . It's something that's really , really important . So there we have it . Let's wrap that up .

Speaker 1 16:52

Thanks for tuning into today's episode of A Healthy Shift . Now , if you found this episode helpful , please share it with a colleague or send it on to your HR manager or a friend who might benefit . And , as always , I want you to take care of yourself and keep striving to thrive , not just survive . I'll see you next time on A Healthy Shift . Thank you for listening . If you enjoyed this episode , be sure to subscribe so you get notified whenever a new episode is released . It would also be ever so helpful if you could leave a rating and review on the app you're currently listening on . If you want to know more about me or work with me , you can go to ahealthyshiftcom . I'll catch you on the next one .