Depicting occupational trauma concepts impacting nurse well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

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.

KEYWORDS:

• Nurse
• well-being
• burnout
• second victim
• compassion fatigue
• moral injury

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data supporting the results and analyses is available upon request.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

Melissa A. Powell

Dr. Powell is a PhD graduate from the Duke University School of Nursing. Dr. Powell’s research focuses on the psychological well-being of nurses and the nursing profession.

AnnMarie L. Walton

Dr. Walton is an Associate Professor in the Duke University School of Nursing. Dr. Walton’s programme of research centres on understanding and minimizing adverse health outcomes for healthcare workers.

Susan D. Scott

Dr. Scott is a Nurse Scientist at the University of Missouri health system and an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Missouri School of Nursing. Dr. Scott’s research career has focused on the second victim experience and supportive interventions.