Abstract
Compassion fatigue is a condition in which there is an inability to sympathize or feel compassion. Nurses have struggled with feelings of helplessness when caring for COVID-19 patients as well as dealing with the stress related to the unknowns of the disease and risk of spread. This article offers background information about the concept of compassion fatigue, synthesis of related literature, and describes the methods of a study that considered compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction, and mindfulness. An intervention using the Headspace meditation application was created to improve compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue, and mindfulness among hospital-based nurses. The study results and discussion describe how use of this application significantly impacted compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue, and mindfulness in a small sample. This study was the first known to evaluate the impact of mobile meditation application use by acute care nurses on these concepts. The conclusion notes implications for research and practice, such as studies a larger and more diverse sample and comparisons of different meditation applications.
