RE: Compassion Fatigue..... And The Lack Of Wages

Sophie Millar — Thu, 18 Jun 2015 14:12:35 GMT

Hi Stacey, I'm a recruitment consultant for veterinary nurses and I always have to tackle this problem as it is a big deal breaker for most nurses. There are very few practices now that do not pay you for on call work. It varies so much across the board, some practices won't pay you however they will pay you if you get called out. And some even put it in as part of your rota so you get some time off in the week if you are working on call. If it gets too much and you want to know what your options are or see what other practices offer.

RE: Compassion Fatigue..... And The Lack Of Wages

Jill Macdonald — Wed, 06 May 2015 14:12:21 GMT

Hi Stacey,

I am sure that at every point in a VNs career there is a level of lack of enthusiasm about work/fatigue/lack of motivation - in fact in anyone's career - it's all part of work life! my advice would be to sit and think about why you want to do this (wonderful) job, what you get out of it, what you give to it, and how you can make a difference.

To me the term 'compassion fatigue' is about the stress we feel as a profession constantly looing after others and dealing with the grief of our poor clients when they lose their pets - dealing with loss, sadness, euthanasia, bereavement - and on an ongoing basis - can really take a toll on us - and we must remember this and look after ourselves and each other.

What you are talking about is not compassion fatigue - it's just fatigue I think! When was the last time you had a break?

As for on-call pay - there are lots of posts about this - in my opinion no-one should work on-call for no pay. Even if you are not called out, you are still on-call and there to work if required. Not being paid for this is simply not acceptable - but how you go about tackling this is up to you..

Jill