A Brief Article Is This the Cost of Caring? A Student Perspective on Compassion Fatigue

Compassion has been defined as the acknowledgement of someone's suffering and being able to alleviate or end that suffering. As senior nursing students, we feel strongly that it is a nurse's responsibility to provide physical and emotional care to those in need. Research on compassion fatigue shows that nurses working in specialty areas including the intensive care unit are at an increased risk of developing compassion fatigue. This article provides a student perspective on what compassion fatigue is, whom it affects, and what implementations can be used to prevent and/or treat it.