Evaluation of the Effect of Compassion Fatigue on Medical Error Tendency in Intensive Care Nurses

Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the relationship between compassion fatigue and tendency to medical errors in critical care nurses. Methods: This descriptive study was conducted in the intensive care units of 16 hospitals (n=420) belonging to a private health group in Turkey between December 2021 and March 2022. Data were collected using the Compassion Fatigue-Short Scale and the Tendency to Medical Error in Nursing Scale (r=-0.252). Results: The nurses’ mean score on the Compassion Fatigue-Short Scale was 56.20±26.77 and their mean score on the Tendency to Medical Error in Nursing Scale was 4.82±0.28. There was a statistically significant negative correlation between total scale scores. Conclusions: The results suggest that the nurses in this study had moderate compassion fatigue and a low tendency to medical errors. A weak relationship was observed between higher compassion fatigue and a greater tendency to medical errors. Determining the factors that cause nurses to make medical errors is crucial to enable the necessary precautions to be taken. We recommend conducting multidimensional studies to evaluate the effects of compassion fatigue on patient safety and nursing outcomes.