NSE 11A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Compassion Fatigue, Necrosis
13 Apr 2017
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Nurse moves back and forth with the pt. on cue in a caring receptivity . Dance begins w/ recognition of suffering and requires overcoming a natural inclination to turn away from suffering, particularly when the pt. is unattractive or repulsive. Helps nurse rise above the revulsion evoked by foul-smelling dressings, putrid wounds, necrotic tissue, distinct smell of death. 2nd step = decision not to turn away but to enter into suffering w/ pt: nurse feels what pt. feels vulnerability, loss, alienation, terror. 3rd step = desire to do something about pt. suffering. Compassion is always w/o judgement pt. separates him from the nurse. Depends on ability to recognize and accept both the light and the dark in experience. Identify challenges to compassion & reflect upon your own experience of compassion for others. Compassion fatigue or emotional burden that results when one is overexposed to pt. tragedies. Distinguish b/w pt. experience and your own.
