Reducing the Incidence of Compassion Fatigue in Obstetrical Nurses

Practice Problem: Compassion fatigue is a growing problem that can affect 21% to 39% of nurses who work in hospital settings (Berger et al., 2015). Compassion fatigue has been further exacerbated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Compassion fatigue negatively impacts the nurses in profound physical and emotional ways. PICOT: The PICOT question that guided this project was: For obstetrical nurses working in a nonprofit organization, what is the effect of a compassion fatigue program, compared with no program, on nurses in reducing compassion fatigue after two months? Evidence: Current evidence shows that mindfulness decreases compassion fatigue and increases compassion satisfaction. Intervention: This paper describes how a mindfulness program was implemented in obstetrical unit in a nonprofit hospital in central Virginia. Outcome: The implementation of this mindfulness program has resulted in a 15.6% increase in compassion satisfaction, a 35.1% decrease in burnout, and a 39.5% decrease in secondary traumatic stress. Conclusion: This EBP project demonstrated that the mindfulness program successfully decreased the incidence of compassion fatigue in obstetrical nurses at a statistically significant level.