Who Cares for the Carers? Literature Review of Compassion Fatigue and Burnout in Military Health Professionals.

The Dunt Review into mental health services in the Australian Defence Force (ADF) enabled significant investment in programs and initiatives across the defence environment in Australia. The subsequent attention to long standing mental health issues for our veteran community is both timely and admirable, and has indeed begun to address mental health stigma, education and community support around this country. Arguably, the overwhelming focus of these programs has been on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as it relates to the physical and mental trauma of operational deployment. However, this paper will attempt to redirect at least some of this focus onto potential issues of compassion fatigue in uniformed health professionals arising from their care of traumatised (physical and/or psychological) clients. The paper will also highlight burnout as a similar possible consequence of stressful defence health work/life experience. This literature review based paper identified myriad peer reviewed references relating to research and programs for international healthcare systems and overseas forces on these conditions. However, at least within the published domain, very little can be identified for the Australian military context or in the ADF's current mental health strategies to specifically address these mental health issues for our uniformed health professionals. This paper introduces these relevant concerns for the broader military/veteran's health peer group, leadership and academic audience to consider as worthy of greater attention in Defence and Veteran's Affairs research and policy agendas. The paper will encompass: 1. An introduction, background and definitions of 'Compassion Fatigue', being vicarious traumatisation of clinicians as a consequence of caring for traumatised people. 2. A similar discussion of Burnout' as a wider but still significant workforce issue that reduces the quality of care provided to patients, and the morale, quality of life and physical and mental health of sufferers. 3. A brief outline of a 'Four Stages of Burnout' model, being (1) Physical, Mental and Emotional Exhaustion, (2) Shame and Doubt, (3) Cynicism and Callousness and finally (4) Failure, Helplessness and Crisis. 4. Identified issues for military health services from compassion fatigue and burnout as identified in the literature. 5. Recommendations that individual practitioners and the defence health organisation should consider to address issues identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]