Abstract
Background: In a time of increasing health demands, health costs and rate of job turnover it is important to understand emergency nurses' experience of professional burnout syndrome as well as the effect of occupational stress and compassion fatigue and the impact on their wellbeing, both in the working environment of hospitals and in their personal lives. With an increasing prevalence of nurses experiencing these phenomena, it is important to identify where and how well-being is impacting nurses in order to reduce the effects.
Objectives: The objective of this integrative literature review is to examine the impact of professional burnout and compassion fatigue on registered nurses working in emergency departments and the impacts on wellbeing.
Eligibility criteria: Studies published between 2009 and 2019 were included if they were primary articles which had the primary focus on occupational stress, secondary traumatic stress syndrome, compassion fatigue or burnout.
Method and Methodology: An integrative review was used to collect and collate data from multiple study methods to create a robust review. Databases CINAHL, PubMed, Medline and Psych Info were used to collect primary articles which were then quality appraised. The Joanna Briggs Institute quality appraisal tools were used to assess methodological rigour of each primary study. Synthesis of findings consisted of thematic analysis and data extraction of demographic data from the primary articles.
Findings: Seventeen papers were included in the review; sixteen of these papers were cross-sectional studies and one paper was a qualitative research paper. Thematic analysis allowed for coding and development of five themes: spiritual wellbeing, physical wellbeing, emotional wellbeing, social wellbeing and work environment.
Conclusion: In order to reduce the effects that burnout and compassion fatigue have on emergency nurses' wellbeing, it is vital that management is approached holistically. This includes increasing implementations of education for nurse managers, introducing formal debriefing procedures and providing mentoring opportunities for junior nurses to help decrease the high level of job turnover, and worldwide nursing shortage that is currently being experienced.