Monday, July 27, 2009

Compassion Fatigue




O My Soul:

Here is a definition of compassion fatigue.

It was first identified among nurses. Those nurses with excellent bedside manners left the profession more frequently than those who only focused on the medical needs of the patients.

Other professions at risk are journalists, clergy, law enforcement officers, military personnel and emergency medical responders.

The first step down the road to compassion fatigue is a compulsion to prove you are above average at what you do. However, the main concern, particularly for pastors, should simply be faithfulness.

-oms

1 comment:

  1. What an incredibly difficult thing for pastors! You want to demonstrate compassion, but not at the expense of your own life. How do you strike the balance?

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