Compassionate care is elemental in maintaining excellence in the nursing
profession. Yet compassion in some nurses can be depleted by repeated exposure
to the suffering of others and result in compassion fatigue (CF)(Gustafsson & Hemberg, 2022). This paper explores why some exemplary nurses seem to forestall CF.
Specifically, we investigate the attitudes of outstanding oncology nurses and
the strategies they employ to sustain compassionate care in their professional
lives. First, we searched through research reports from peer-reviewed journals
and articles from grey literature to better understand compassionate nursing,
compassion satisfaction (CS), and CF. Then we added reflections from oncology
nurses who maintain compassion in their care through challenging working
conditions, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. The literature reveals that
exceptional oncology nurses can sustain empathy and compassion in their care due to their outlook on life, the specific strategies they use for
self-care, and their unique approaches to caring for patients and families. The nurses’ reflections help us
understand the coping strategies these nurses employ and how they mitigate the
effects of CF and maintain an exemplary practice. We aim to encourage nurses
and organizational leaders to use (and nurse educators to teach) strategies to
help increase CS, reduce CF, and restore enthusiasm for practicing nursing.
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