Hospitals Seek Payoff for Patients by Helping Nurses Cope - WSJ.com

Hospitals Seek Payoff for Patients by Helping Nurses Cope - WSJ.com: The course includes a checklist of symptoms to watch out for, and offers "antidotes" to compassion fatigue, such as creating a support network. Participants are taught the importance of focusing on "intentionality"—the caring intention that brought them to the health care field in the first place—while accepting their own limits in doing only the best they can on any given day.

A particularly draining experience came when a patient in his 40s demanded to know how she felt about caring for cancer patients and if she liked her job. She said she loved it and tried to keep the conversation positive, but he declared, "Well, I'm dying," despite a likelihood that treatment could extend his life.