Investigating the Impact of Burnout on Compassionate Care Delivery in Palliative Nursing Settings

Posted: Aug 19, 2023

• Leighton Cruz
• Brayden Keller
• Kelsey Martinez

Abstract

Palliative nursing represents one of the most emotionally demanding specialties within healthcare, requiring clinicians to maintain compassionate presence while navigating profound human suffering, grief, and existential distress. The sustained emotional labor inherent in this work creates unique vulnerabilities to burnout, yet the precise mechanisms through which burnout influences the delivery of compassionate care remain inadequately understood. Traditional investigations have predominantly relied on self-report measures and survey methodologies, which are susceptible to social desirability bias and may fail to capture the nuanced, often unconscious ways in which burnout manifests in clinical interactions. This research addresses critical gaps in the existing literature by employing a multi-dimensional assessment framework that integrates physiological, behavioral, and subjective indicators of both burnout and compassionate care delivery. Our investigation moves beyond correlational approaches to examine the dynamic processes through which emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment influence the therapeutic relationship in palliative contexts.