Abstract
Social workers in the Department of Defense Hospital are faced with numerous challenges to best address the needs of the nation’s wounded. Social workers serve diverse roles on the multidisciplinary team and are integral to the hospital work environment. Sometimes, however, the work extracts a toll on the social worker that may be expressed in terms of burnout and compassion fatigue. The converse is also true, that social workers may have a strong sense of compassion satisfaction about what they do. This article details the experience of social workers in Department of Defense hospitals. It describes the impact of the work on the social workers noting levels of compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue, and burnout. Findings suggest that generally the social workers find satisfaction in their work and degrees of compassion fatigue and burnout.
Highlights
Quantitative research is the systematic investigation of phenomena that can be analyzed numerically
The social workers expressed compassion satisfaction derived from their work with 59% above national norms for the subscale
Of some concern were the findings on the compassion fatigue and burnout subscales
Summary
Quantitative research is the systematic investigation of phenomena that can be analyzed numerically. The quantitative research reported in this article sought to inform the social service/military community about the experience of social workers working in the Department of Defense health care system, evaluating levels of compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue and burnout. The care of our wounded service members is divided into two systems – the Department of Defense and the Veterans Administration. While there is some overlap in terms of care, the usual trajectory for service members who have been wounded is that they will return to the United States and begin their treatment in a Department of Defense hospital. Some of the less seriously injured – physically and/or emotionally - are treated and will return to active duty overseas; for the more seriously wounded, those who will not be able to return to active duty, their medical situation is stabilized and their care is transitioned to a Veterans Administration (VA) facility, ideally near their home and family
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