The Effect of Team Resilient Actions on Compassion Satisfaction Scores in a Primary Care Practice

Compassion satisfaction has an inverse relationship to compassion fatigue, which includes burnout and secondary trauma. Higher compassion satisfaction levels are associated with positive patient outcomes and lower patient care costs. The purpose of this study was to improve the compassion satisfaction scores of team members at a primary care office in Southeast Virginia. Team members include providers, medical assistants, managers, administrative support, and lab technicians. The attempt to improve compassion satisfaction involved addressing the sense of community by actively recognizing and appreciating staff, fostering social connectedness, team membership, collegiality, and team building activities over a 12-week span. The Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL version 5 ©, 2009) survey evaluates compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue, including burnout and secondary trauma. The team members completed the ProQOL survey prior to and at the completion of the study. The Paired T-test indicated that there was not a significant increase in compassion satisfaction scores from pre-intervention (M = 40.36, SD = 1.80) to the post-intervention (M = 40.29, SD = 1.80); t (13) = .11, p = .457, one-tailed score. However, a statistically significant difference was noted on the burnout category of the ProQOL survey from pre-intervention (M = 25.14, SD = 2.01) to post-intervention (M = 23.36, SD = 1.78); t (13) = 2.08, p = .029, one-tailed. The Cohen’s d (d = .56) and the eta squared statistic (η2 = .25) indicate a medium to large effect size on burnout score. These findings suggest the need to study further and evaluate the group’s compassion fatigue and interventions to foster improved professional quality of life.