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Appl Clin Inform 2025; 16(03): 708-717
DOI: 10.1055/a-2564-8809
Special Topic on Reducing Technology-Related Stress and Burnout

Digital Compassion Fatigue as an Emerging Phenomenon for Registered Nurses Experiencing Technostress

Matthew Byrne
1   Office of the Chief Technology Officer, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, United States
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Funding None.
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Abstract

Background

Registered nurses increasingly work in remote care and digital interaction roles, offering flexibility and expansion of their scope of practice. These roles may expose nurses to digital compassion fatigue, a phenomenon proposed to be characterized by the negative psychological and emotional impact of caring for patients remotely through the use of technology.

Objectives

The first objective of this work is to propose the phenomenon of “digital compassion fatigue” as a potentially further evolved and differentiated form of “compassion fatigue.” The second objective is to produce a comparative analysis of attributes, antecedents, and consequences through literature reviews.

Methods

An evolutionary concept analysis approach was selected as a guide for exploring, discussing, and defining the new concept of digital compassion fatigue. Concept analysis was selected given the need for a framework that accounts for the dynamic nature of technology and practice. The process of conducting a concept analysis includes consideration of diverse and multidisciplinary perspectives. As a result, those in caring, educational, and/or support service roles (e.g., social work, counseling, and teaching) for which distance suffering and technostress could feasibly be present were also included in the literature searches and reviews. Health care-specific studies often included nurses in the sample but may not have differentiated their specific insights or data points in the results.

Results

The concept analysis explored the attributes, antecedents, and consequences of digital compassion fatigue, differentiating it from its evolutionary parent, compassion fatigue. Key antecedents included technostress, distant suffering, and the unique challenges of delivering care remotely. A major confounding variable was the COVID-19 pandemic, which may have heightened or introduced new technology-related stressors or highlighted the existence of digital compassion fatigue.

Conclusion

Further defining and understanding digital compassion fatigue is crucial for developing effective strategies to support nurses who may experience it or who are at risk.

Keywords

nursing - burnout - technostress - compassion fatigue - digital compassion fatigue - distant suffering

Protection of Human and Animal Subjects

No human and/or animal subjects were involved in this project.




Publication History

Received: 16 November 2024

Accepted: 23 March 2025

Accepted Manuscript online:
24 March 2025

Article published online:
30 July 2025

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