Risk of compassion fatigue among emergency department nurses: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Emergency nurses face heightened vulnerability to compassion fatigue due to chronic exposure to trauma and high-stress environments, potentially compromising both their well-being and patient care quality. However, comprehensive syntheses of its prevalence and modifiable factors remain limited.

Observational studies on the risk and factors influencing the occurrence of compassion fatigue among emergency department nurses were included by searching the CNKI, Wanfang, Vip, China Biomedical Literature Database, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Web of science databases from inception to December 2024. Data were statistically analysed using RevMan 5. 2 software.

Eleven cross-sectional studies were included, with seven (n = 2,385 nurses) reporting risk estimates. Random-effects meta-analysis indicated significantly elevated compassion fatigue risk (OR = 3.48, 95%CI:1.66-7.30, P = 0.001). Subgroup analysis indicated numerically higher risk among Chinese nurses (OR = 4.33, 95%CI:2.12-8.86, P < 0.0001) versus US nurses (OR = 1.73, 95%CI:0.16-19.11, P = 0.65), though without significant subgroup differences (P = 0.47). Descriptive analysis showed that factors such as personal characteristics and work-related factors were associated with compassion fatigue.

There is a high risk of developing compassion fatigue among emergency department nurses. While point estimates suggested higher risk in China than the US, this difference lacked statistical significance. Factors such as personal characteristics and work-related factors were associated with compassion fatigue.