The negative impacts of secondary traumatic stress and mutual suffering: considerations in the hospital setting

Abstract

Nurses and other health professionals may be at an increased risk of experiencing emotional disturbance associated with caring for people who are experiencing distress, illness or disease or who are at the end stage of their life. This was a particular problem during the COVID-19 pandemic. This article seeks to explore how working closely with individuals who are experiencing ill health may impact negatively on the nurse as a care provider. This exposure to trauma, illness and death can result in a vicarious experience of trauma that may result in a sense of shared experience with the patient. The emotional burden this places on the nurse can lead to increased anxiety, stress and a need to detach from the patient. This can have a detrimental effect on patient care and nurses must remain vigilant to their susceptibility to, and experience of, mutual suffering through secondary trauma. Although nursing offers many positive experiences, this article is focused on highlighting the negative impacts of secondary traumatic stress. This article briefly outlines the literature relating to secondary traumatic stress and mutual suffering in the acute hospital setting and does not consider mental health settings or patients. The aim of the article is to close the theory−practice gap while also encouraging personal reflection on nurses' experiences of mutual suffering in practice. The author recognises the loaded nature of the term ‘mutual suffering’; however, this is an established phrase used to explain the phenomena of interest. Although the term ‘suffering’ may imply a passive sick role for nurses, in this context the term should be seen as a shared sense of the experience of the patients and health staff.