OCCUPATION AND HEALTH ›› 2026, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (12): 1680-1687.

• Treatise—Literature Analysis • Previous Articles     Next Articles

A systematic review on prevalence and influencing factors of compassion fatigue among emergency medical staff

XIN Mingming1, LI Zhenyang1, HUANG Lixia2   

  1. 1 Department of EmergencyXiaolan People's Hospital of Zhongshan City(Zhongshan Fifth People's Hospital),ZhongshanGuangdong 528415, China
    2 Department of EmergencyZhongshan Aida Kang Rehabilitation Hospital,ZhongshanGuangdong 528415, China
  • Received:2025-07-25 Revised:2026-03-10 Online:2026-06-15 Published:2026-06-18

Abstract:

Objective To systematically evaluate the prevalence and influencing factors of compassion fatigue among emergency medical staff,providing evidence-based guidance for developing intervention strategies. Methods A comprehensive search of PubMed,the Cochrane Library,Web of Science,Embase,CNKI,Wanfang,VIP,and CBM databases was conducted to identify literature related to compassion fatigue among emergency medical staff,and the retrieval time limit is from the establishment of the database to September 2024. Two researchers independently screened the literature,extracted data,and cross-checked the results.The study quality was assessed using the agency for healthcare research and quality(AHRQ) rating criteria. Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.4 and Stata 17.0. Results A total of 22 studies involving 7 315 emergency medical workers were included.The random-effects model showed that the prevalence of moderate to severe compassion fatigue among emergency medical staff was 75.47%(95%CI:71.132%-79.814%). The subgroup analysis indicated that sample size differences might be the primary source of heterogeneity(differences between subgroups P=0.041). The work stress,low job satisfaction,low social support,and workplace violence were risk factors for compassion fatigue among emergency medical workers(OR=1.491,1.334,1.303,2.272,all P<0.05). The sensitivity analysis and publication bias tests indicated that the combined results were robust. Conclusions The compassion fatigue is highly prevalent among emergency medical staff and is significantly influenced by factors such as work stress,low job satisfaction,low social support,and workplace violence.Targeted interventions,such as psychological support,improving work environments,enhancing teamwork,and increasing job satisfaction,are recommended to reduce compassion fatigue and its negative impacts on emergency medical staff.

Key words: Emergency department, Medical staff, Compassion fatigue, Influencing factors, Systematic review

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