Compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress among nurses after the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: Nurses frequently experience compassion fatigue and burnout, which impact their personal lives and patient care. The COVID-19 pandemic additionally caused stress, uncertainty, and fear of death among healthcare professionals.

Aim: To assess professional quality of life (ProQoL) among nurses after the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Material And Methods: A web-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 203 nurses using a purposive sampling technique in the month of September to December 2021. Data were collected using a self-administered ProQoL scale version 5.

Statistical Analysis: Descriptive and inferential statistics were used. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Mann-Whitney U, and Kruskal-Wallis H test were used. Bivariate correlations were used to correlate the main variables. Multiple linear regression analysis was also performed.

Results: The majority of the nurses reported a moderate level of compassion satisfaction (CS) (62.6%), burnout (BO) (66.0%), and secondary traumatic stress (STS) (63.1%). Residence and education emerged as a factor whether the nurses experienced BO or STS, respectively. Additionally, CS negatively correlated with BO (r = -0.732: < 0.001) and STS (r = -0.141: p-0.04).

Conclusions: The majority of the nurses experienced moderate levels of CS, BO, and STS after the second wave of the COVID-19 crisis and nurse patient-ratio emerged as a significant factor to predict CS, BO, or STS. Hence, effective measures need to be implemented by hospital administration to enhance the nurses' satisfaction and reduce fatigue and burnout.