Is nurses’ clinical competence associated with their compassion satisfaction, burnout and secondary traumatic stress? A cross‐sectional study

Due to the nature of their work, trauma nurses are exposed to traumatic situations and often experience burnout. We conducted a cross-sectional study examining compassion satisfaction, secondary traumatic stress, and burnout among trauma nurses to identify the predictors of burnout. Data were collected from 219 nurses in four trauma centers in South Korea from July to August 2019. We used the Traumatic Events Inventory to measure nurses’ traumatic experience and three Professional Quality of Life subscales to measure compassion satisfaction, secondary traumatic stress, and burnout. Multiple regression analysis confirmed that compassion satisfaction and secondary traumatic stress significantly predicted nurses’ burnout, with compassion satisfaction being the most potent predictor. The regression model explained 59.2% of the variance. Nurses with high job satisfaction, high compassion satisfaction, and low secondary traumatic stress tend to experience less burnout than their counterparts. Nurse managers should recognize that strategies to enhance job and compassion satisfaction and decrease secondary traumatic stress are required to decrease burnout among nurses in trauma centers.

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Secondary traumatic stress and compassion satisfaction mediate the association between stress and burnout among Korean hospital nurses: a cross-sectional study

BMC Nursing ◽

10.1186/s12912-021-00636-w ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Hyangkyu Lee ◽

Wonhee Baek ◽

Arum Lim ◽

Dajung Lee ◽

Yanghee Pang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Traumatic Stress ◽

Indirect Effects ◽

Secondary Traumatic Stress ◽

Compassion Satisfaction ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Hospital Nurses ◽

Sectional Study ◽

Cross Sectional

Abstract Background Burnout among nurses is a worldwide public health epidemic that adversely affects nurses’ quality of life as well as the patient’s outcomes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of stress on nurses’ burnout and to identify the mediating effects of secondary traumatic stress and compassion satisfaction among clinical nurses in South Korea. Methods A quantitative, cross-sectional study evaluated the survey data from 10,305 female registered hospital nurses who participated in the Korea Nurses’ Health Study (KNHS) Module 5. The survey included a demographic questionnaire and the Professional Quality of Life version 5 (ProQOL 5). Bootstrap analyses (using the PROCESS macro) were employed to evaluate the mediating effect between variables. Results Stress was significantly associated with burnout and mediated by secondary traumatic stress and compassion satisfaction (βindirect 1 = 0.185, Bootstrap confidence interval (BS CI) [0.175, 0.194]; βindirect 2 = 0.226, BS CI [0.212, 0.241], respectively). In addition, the magnitude of the indirect effects of compassion satisfaction was significantly greater than the magnitude of the indirect effects of secondary traumatic stress (βindirect 1-βindirect 2 = − 0.042, BS CI [− 0.058, − 0.026]). The findings of this study indicate that the positive aspect (compassion satisfaction) of work experiences can offset the negative aspects (secondary traumatic stress), consequently reducing burnout level. Conclusions Our study findings suggest that a multidimensional approach to assessing nurse burnout and implementation of proper management will improve quality of life for nurses and help maintain positive attitudes and quality of patient care.

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