Monday, April 6, 2009

'Compassion Fatigue' Drains Some Caregivers

By Todd Neale, Staff Writer, MedPage Today Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Healthcare professionals who care for cancer patients may suffer from compassion fatigue, a condition similar to burnout, researchers found.

Witnessing the pain and suffering of cancer firsthand can affect how nurses, doctors, and others who care for terminally ill patients interact with patients and other people around them, according to Caroline Carney Doebbeling, M.D., of Indiana University School of Medicine and the Regenstrief Institute in Indianapolis, and colleagues.

People who develop compassion fatigue may have depression and anxiety disorders, may distance themselves emotionally from their work, and may be chronically tired, irritable, and bored, Dr. Doebbeling and colleagues reported in a review published in the March issue of the Journal of Health Psychology.

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