Trauma surgeons experience compassion fatigue: A major metropolitan area survey
Bibliographic record
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Compassion fatigue (CF), the physical, emotional, and psychological impact of helping others, is composed of three domains: compassion satisfaction (CS), secondary traumatic stress (STS), and burnout (BO). Trauma surgeons (TSs) experience work-related stress resulting in high rates of CF, which can manifest as physical and psychological disorders. We hypothesized that TSs experience CF and there are potentially modifiable systemic factors to mitigate its symptoms. METHODS: All TSs in a major metropolitan area were eligible. Personal and professional demographic information was obtained. Each participant completed six validated surveys: (1) Professional Quality of Life scale, (2) Perceived Stress Scale, (3) Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, (4) Adverse Childhood Events Questionnaire, (5) Brief Coping Inventory, and (6) Toronto Empathy Questionnaire. Compassion fatigue subscale risk scores (low, <23; moderate, 23-41; high, >41) were recorded. Linear regression analysis assessed the demographic and environmental factors association with BO, STS, and CS. Variables significant on univariate analysis were included in multivariate models to determine the independent influence on BO, STS, and CS. Significance was p ≤ 0.05. RESULTS: There were 57 TSs (response rate, 75.4% [n = 43]; White, 65% [n = 28]; male, 67% [n = 29]). Trauma surgeons experienced CF (BO, 26 [interquartile range (IQR), 21-32]; STS, 23 [IQR, 19-32]; CS, 39 [IQR, 34-45]). The Perceived Stress Scale score was significantly associated with increased BO (coefficient [coef.], 0.52; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.28-0.77) and STS (coef., 0.44; 95% CI, 0.15-0.73), and decreased CS (coef., -0.51; 95% CI, -0.80 to -0.23) ( p < 0.01). Night shifts were associated with higher BO (coef., 1.55; 95% CI, 0.07-3.03; p = 0.05); conversely, day shifts were associated with higher STS (coef., 1.94; 95% CI, 0.32-3.56; p = 0.03). Higher Toronto Empathy Questionnaire scores were associated with greater CS (coef., 0.33; 95% CI, 0.12-0.55; p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Trauma surgeons experience moderate BO and STS associated with modifiable system- and work-related stressors. Efforts to reduce CF should focus on addressing sources of workplace stress and promoting empathic care. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Prognostic and Epidemiological; Level III.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.001 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".