Virginia Mason|Gail Leslie|Kathleen Clark|Pat Lyons|Erica Walke|Christina Butler|Martha Griffin
Compassion Fatigue, Moral Distress, and Work Engagement in Surgical Intensive Care Unit Trauma Nurses
Massachusetts General Hospital|Boston College|Regis College|University of Massachusetts Boston|Beverly Hospital|Regis College|University of Phoenix|Northeastern University|University of Rhode Island|University of Massachusetts Boston
preparation replacing large proportion staff nurses reaching retirement age next decades united states essential continue delivering highquality nursing care improving patient outcomes retaining experienced critical care nurses imperative successfully implementing orientation new inexperienced critical care nurses important understand factors affect work engagement develop strategies enhance nurse retention improve quality patient care nurses experience moral distress measured medical intensive care units surgical trauma care units nurses exposed patients families faced sudden lifethreatening lifechanging patient consequencesthis pilot study nonexperimental descriptive correlational design examine effect compassion satisfaction compassion fatigue moral distress level nursing education critical care nurses work engagement partial replication lawrences dissertation study also asked nurses describe sources moral distress selfcare strategies coping stress used identify qualitative themes nurse experiences jean watsons theory human caring serves framework bring meaning focus nursingpatient caring relationshipa convenience sample 26 34 eligible experienced surgical intensive care unit trauma nurses responded survey indicating 77 response rate twentyseven percent nurses scored high 73 scored average compassion satisfaction compassion fatigue 58 scored average burnout 42 scored low secondary traumatic stress subscale 38 scored average 62 scored low mean moral distress situations subscale score 34 elevated mean 9item utrecht work engagement scale total score measuring work engagement 38 considered lowcontent analysis used identify themes role conflict managementrules death suffering dealing violence intensive care unit dealing family powerlessness physical distress medical versus nursing values additional themes identified caring helping families longtime interdependent relationships colleagues satisfaction trauma nursingas work engagement increased compassion satisfaction significantly increased burnout significantly decreased results study support moral distress clinically meaningful issue surgical intensive care unit nurses moral distress scales elevated whereas work engagement scales low finding congruent lawrences study may reflect ongoing need greater supports experienced intensive care unit nurses education management future recommendations research include examining interaction variables larger samples examine additional explanatory factors well strategies selfcare motivation behavior change