Compassion Fatigue and the Emergency Department

The purpose of this quality improvement project was to identify and reduce the level of CF in ED nurses by implementing Real Time Transformative Response© (RTR). RTR© is a technique that uses combinations of neurofeedback response awareness, biofield therapy intervention, and clearing of unwanted energy. A sample of ED nurses working 24-hours or more weekly at a moderately-sized, suburban, Midwestern hospital ED completed a Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL 5; version 5) before and after three-months of RTR© training. Results 34 ED nurses (N=34) completed RTR© training and ProQOL 5 surveys. The overall mean score for the pre-RTR© training survey was 107 (sd =1.1385), and the post-RTR© training survey was 106.613 (sd =1.1677) (t =1.6924, df =66, p =0.0476). Mean scores pre-and post-RTR© training: compassion satisfaction was 3.59 (sd = 0.9521) increased to 3.95 (sd = 0.7766) (t = 1.997, df = 66, p = 0.000), burnout was 2.71 (sd = 1.1501) decreased to 2.36 (sd = 0.9120) (t = 1.997, df = 66, p = 0.000), and secondary traumatic stress was 2.45 (sd = 1.0002) decreased to 2.25 (sd = 0.9143) (t = 1.997, df = 66, p = 0.0017). The study appeared to have successfully achieved the aim of this study by decreasing the overall CF by 10.17% in three months. The data detailed has the potential to be reused to support the development of alternative techniques to reduce compassion fatigue of bedside clinicians.