News Crushing Compassion Fatigue
by Dr. Jennifer Quammen and Mr. Ryan Smith Co-Founders and Coaches, High Performance Living Helping Veterinarians THRIVE in Life, Love and Career
The veterinary profession is filled with competent, car- ing and empathetic people. We get drawn to the profes-
sion in one way or another because of our love of animals. Contrary to popular belief, we do not spend every day and night simply “playing” with adorable puppies and newborn foals. Our jobs require from us a high level of technical skill and knowledge, a constant vigilance for our patients’ safety, and the added challenge of working in highly charged emotional situations. We take an oath to alleviate suffering. Most of our clients and patients are stressed, scared and unsure when we see them; this by definition is suffering and therefore our obligation to ad- dress and treat. Tat’s a lot to put on anyone’s plate, but we take it on willingly and, day after day, we smile, edu- cate, treat our patients, and care for our colleagues. Tat is all just “part of the job.” We don’t disagree with that, but what we see is people within our profession that are giving and giving until they have nothing left.
Te terms “compassion fatigue” and “burnout” are being tossed around a lot within veterinary medicine these days. Do you really even know what these terms mean? How do they affect you? What impact do they have on the entire healthcare team? How are our patients and clients impact- ed? We will get to that. Let’s start by having a basic under- standing of what each of these terms really means.
Compassion fatigue is defined as emotional distress, fa- tigue or apathy resulting from the chronic caring of oth- ers’ needs. Tis is a term often correlated to medical and related fields. Within veterinary medicine, compassion fatigue can result from caring for patients or clients or co-workers and colleagues. Oh, and it can also include caring for family and friends. Tink about the veteri- narian who has an ailing parent at home, works 40 plus hours a week caring for patients and clients, and also is the “shoulder to cry on” for his/her co-workers. When does he/she possibly have time to take care of his or her- self? How long can he/she go on in this situation before compassion fatigue sets in?
What about burnout? Burnout is defined as exhaustion of physical or emotional strength or motivation usually as a result of prolonged stress or frustration. Does that sound like anyone you know? Imagine the veterinary technician
who is also manager of an emergency hospital. Two key staff members have left the practice in the last month and training new employees is going slowly. To keep the shifts covered and the doctors happy, this technician is now covering one or two overnight shifts a week “until the new people are trained.” Tis is a perfect setting in which burnout can occur. Without looking out for his or her self, this person is headed straight into a massive episode of burnout.
Let’s switch gears to talk about moral fatigue. Tis term is lesser known and strongly associated with veterinary med- icine. Tis is the situation where you have the training, but are not using it because of factors out of your control. In our profession, this is often the case of an injured or sick animal who can be treated and recover but the own- ers decline treatment (or even opt for euthanasia) because of financial constraints. Tis is an enormous dilemma in- ternally for us. We know we can treat, we are trained and have the skills to perform the treatment, but the financial situation of the owner doesn’t allow treatment. For those practicing in lower socioeconomic situations, this can be- come the norm. Over time, this eats away at your ability to deliver compassionate care to the next patient and may have profound effects on the staff.
Veterinarian professionals suffering from compassion fa- tigue, moral fatigue or burnout can wind up leaving the profession altogether or constantly changing jobs look- ing for greener grass. Some even self-soothe the pain with alcohol, drugs or other addictions, and still others even take their own lives. Our mission is to create thriving vet- erinary professionals. A thriving professional knows they have to care for themselves if they are going be at their best. We want to see people happy to walk into work and serve, not just showing up and surviving on endless caf- feine and sugar. Te keys to living this high performance life are at your fingertips; will it always be easy? No. Is it the right thing to do? Absolutely.
It’s your obligation to care for yourself first so you can care for your patients at your maximal capacity. If you need more information, please contact us at life@highperfliv-
ing.com or check us out at
www.highperfliving.com
Winter 2018
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