Burnout, compassion fatigue, and resilience among healthcare professionals

Healthcare professionals face numerous challenges and multiple stressors in their practice – such as time constraints, inadequate support, and exposure to trauma, morbidity, and mortality. Such stressors seem to be worsening, particularly in an environment of international pandemic, and few healthcare environments can be consistently described as predictable, well-funded, and calm. Consequently, the importance of protecting staff against burnout and building workplace resilience has received increasing attention. Healthcare professionals commonly work with limited resources and inadequate support, impeding their capacity to deliver the care they aspire to provide. This can culminate in burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and compassion fatigue, a state that is uncommon among the general population but all too common in healthcare professionals.