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Fighting compassion fatigue during public health epidemics
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October, 2020
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Description:Compassion and empathy have been relentlessly challenged by multiple epidemics in the United States. As opioid overdoses have increased exponentially, suicides have followed a similar trajectory. Most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has tested our collective social and economic resilience. Witnessing and responding to these crises affects numerous personnel, including first responders, healthcare workers and public health workers—all of whom need empathy and compassion to maintain motivation and promote positive outcomes. Compassion fatigue in responders can lead to emotional and physical exhaustion, substandard care, and a negative working environment.
As public health expands collaboration across sectors to implement new strategies to address the opioid crisis and support linkages to care, awareness of compassion fatigue can mitigate its impact on these interventions. Health agencies can help ensure that those involved in public health epidemic prevention and response efforts receive the necessary support to promote resiliency. This brief will examine the opioid overdose epidemic as a case study in compassion fatigue during public health epidemics.
Note: This brief was supported by cooperative agreement number U38 OT000290, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the Department of Health and Human Services.
fighting-compassion-fatigue-during-public-health-epidemics.pdf
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