Sevilay Erden

Purpose: This study sought to describe the experiences of emergency department nurses with compassion fatigue. Design: A qualitative phenomenological design was used. Methods: This study was conducted with 10 nurses working in the emergency department in July 2026. Interviews were documented through handwritten notes, expanded into digital format within 24 h, and complemented by observational notes. Data were analysed manually, without the use of qualitative data analysis software. Data analysis was performed in accordance with Colaizzi's seven‐stage phenomenological analysis method, including identifying meaningful statements, formulating meanings, developing thematic clusters and validating findings through participant feedback. Results: Among the primary themes of compassion fatigue, 3 secondary themes emerged: emotional strain with regard to a sense of powerlessness, incompetence and guilt as a result of intense empathic involvement, emotional transformation in terms of waning empathetic engagement and distancing from others' feelings and adaptation and self‐defence including coping methods such as setting an emotional distance, increasing one's psychic distance from sources of exposure or re‐creating work‐life balance. Conclusion: Compassion fatigue in the emergency department is a dynamic process, which is initiated with empathy and encumbrance of emotional stress over time will transform the nurse's emotion and care giving. These results emphasize the need for context‐sensitive and nurse‐focused intervention to enhance the emotional resilience of nurses. Framing these interventions around a structured well‐being model such as PERMA may offer healthcare organizations a practical, multidimensional pathway for sustaining nurses' emotional resilience and safeguarding compassionate care in high‐acuity settings. Reporting Method: This qualitative phenomenological study followed the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ) checklist (see Supplementary Appendix ). Patient and Public Contribution: Nurses who had cared for patients within high‐acuity clinical environments were included in interviews, providing experiential knowledge that informed the data analysis and supported the clinical relevance of findings. Impact: Among nurses working in challenging clinical settings, compassion fatigue remains an underdeveloped threat to both nurse well‐being and the sustainability of high‐quality patient care. Findings of the study illustrates how compassion fatigue evolves out of cumulative emotional strain and how nurses actively manage this by developing emotional boundaries and creating self‐protection strategies in order to remain functional within difficult care situations. By shining a spotlight on these lived experiences, the findings highlight the value of organizational awareness and nurse‐led supportive interventions in nurturing emotional resilience, safeguarding compassionate care and promoting workforce retention in clinical nursing practice.

Background: The aim of this study was to culturally adapt the Abbey Pain Scale (APS-TR) into Turkish and to evaluate the validity and reliability of the scale in dementia patients. Patients and Methods: Between September 16, 2020 and April 16, 2023, a total of 103 dementia patients aged ≥ 65 who were admitted to the intensive care units of a university hospital were included in the study. Pain levels were assessed 1 min before mobilization or repositioning, during the procedure, and 20 min afterward using the Turkish version of the APS, the Nonverbal Pain Scale (NVPS), and the Verbal Descriptive Scale (VDS). Construct validity was evaluated through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Reliability was assessed using internal consistency analysis with Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, and criterion validity was examined by analyzing correlations between APS-TR and the other pain scales using Pearson correlation analysis. Results: Of a total of 103 patients, 37 were male and 66 were female with a mean age of 71.7 ± 5.67 (range, 65 to 92) years. As a result of linguistic and cultural adaptation, the Turkish version of the scale was found to be appropriate. The content validity index was found to be 0.90. Exploratory factor analysis showed that the items formed a single-factor structure, and factor loadings ranged from 0.489 to 0.855. Confirmatory factor analysis fit indices (χ ² /df = 1.21, root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA] = 0.046, standardized root mean square residual [SRMR] = 0.045, [comparative fit index] = 0.989) indicated that the model was acceptable. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the scale was calculated as 0.777, and positive and significant relationships were found between APS-TR and NVPS and VDS at all measurement times. Conclusion: Our study results suggest that the Turkish version of the APS is a valid, reliable, and unidimensional measurement instrument which can be used to assess pain in dementia patients receiving treatment in intensive care.

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the effect of using a reminder-based mobile application on medication adherence in patients who underwent total thyroidectomy. Materials and methods: This randomized controlled trial followed CONSORT guidelines and included 63 patients who underwent total thyroidectomy at a university and a state hospital. The intervention group ( n = 31) used a reminder mobile application for 8 weeks, while the control group ( n = 32) received standard care. Data were collected at weeks 1, 4, and 8 using a personal information form, follow-up form, and Morisky eight-item medication adherence scale. Statistical analyses included chi-square, t -test, ANOVA, Mann–Whitney U , and Friedman tests. Results: At week 4, the intervention group demonstrated significantly higher mean MMAS-8 scores compared to the control group (6.58 vs. 5.71, p = 0.016). Furthermore, at week 8, a statistically significant difference was observed between groups in terms of medication adherence levels based on MMAS-8 cutoff categories ( χ ² = 9.6, p = 0.008). Discussion: This study showed that a reminder-based mobile application effectively improved medication adherence in patients after total thyroidectomy. Increased adherence was observed in the intervention group, while a decline occurred in the control group. These findings indicate that reminder-based mobile health interventions may support medication adherence during the early postoperative period. Conclusion: Reminder mobile applications can positively impact medication adherence. Integrating such tools into routine postoperative follow-up may support treatment continuity in patients receiving levothyroxine after total thyroidectomy. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT05503576, registration date 08 December 2022.