Depicting occupational trauma concepts impacting nurse well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic
Melissa A Powell1, AnnMarie L Walton1, Susan D Scott2
1School of Nursing, Duke University School of Nursing, Durham, NC, USA.
Purpose:
The purpose of this concept delineation was to differentiate similar concepts impacting nurse well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic, including: compassion fatigue, burnout, moral injury, secondary traumatic stress, and second victim.
Methods:
A total of 63 articles were reviewed for concept delineation. Morse's (1995) approach to concept delineation was utilized to analyse the articles.
Results:
Concepts were described interchangeably but were found to present themselves in a sequence. A nurse may experience moral injury, leading to a second victim experience, synonymous with secondary traumatic stress, then compassion fatigue and/or burnout that can be acute or chronic in nature. An Occupational Trauma Conceptual Model was created to depict how these concepts interact based on concept delineation findings.
Conclusion:
Nurses are experiencing long-lasting occupational trauma and future intervention research should centre on optimizing nurse well-being to ensure the sustainability of nursing profession.
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