Professional compassion fatigue: What is the true cost of nurses caring for the dying? One of the participant's stated, “We work hard together and when we have a particularly difficult case, we grieve together too” (Perry et al., 2011, p. 95). Together they are concerned with compassion fatigue among nurses dealing with the pandemic and other stressful circumstances that nurses aren't always prepared to handle. Below is a nurse’s guide, listed as ABC towards the prevention of compassion fatigue which stands for: awareness, balance, and connections. Additional changes in the delivery of care to COVID-19 patients include the "clustering of care" where nurses plan the delivery of care so that they can minimize their time in and trips to the patient's room. Apparently, people tend to forget that nurses are not robots; human as they are, they need compassion as much as patients do. Compassion fatigue is defined as the physical and mental exhaustion experienced by those caring for sick or traumatized people over a long period, often resulting in emotional withdrawal from patients, colleagues and family members. Nurses also identified limited opportunity for professional development and blamed facility infrastructure and a lack of support for such, as an issue (Drury et al., 2014, p. 525). CD and AT contributed to study design, analysis and manuscript preparation. Additional theoretical clarification is needed regarding difference in use of these approaches. One participant said, “…I had the ability to do more, withstand more, help more…more, more, more without help…it took its toll”. Number of times cited according to CrossRef: Burnout, Compassion Fatigue, and Secondary Trauma in Nurses. Our synthesis, generated from nine studies with a total sample of 201 participants working across diverse settings, showed considerable similarity of nurse experience of compassion fatigue. It is fair to point out that not all nurses are fortunate enough to experience a relaxed work environment; some nurses experience more trauma than the rest of the medical population. The conceptualisations found in the studies included in this work provide a reality that is potentially more reflective of a generalisable reality than any one study alone (Zimmer, 2006). These feelings are heightened by media reports that may sensationalize the illness. Compassion fatigue differs from burnout in that it results from emotional agony rather than daily administrative stressors. The human being inside every single nurse is in need of constant replenishment of love and concern. Once the tank becomes empty, it becomes a burden for the nurse to do the job well, and things often go downhill because of that. Of note, nurses with families seemed more vulnerable in finding a balance due to home challenges such as difficulty dealing with sick children and having intrusive thoughts at work about the home situation. © 2020 Nurseslabs | Ut in Omnibus Glorificetur Deus! Yet another respondent stated “I don't think there is support for junior nurses and I don't think there's support there for the older nurses” (Drury et al., 2014, p. 522). CHANGES IN FAMILY VISITATION POLICIES The now indifferent nurse is just too tired to give any care, and that is a problem. The method is a comparative, inductive, interpretive form of knowledge synthesis where studies are translated into one another (Noblit & Hare, 1988). As a result, family members and significant others often become angry when denied visitation privileges. Analysis of studies found four central themes and five subthemes. It was expressed as, “…Just feeling very tired…and physically having more aches and pains” (Austin et al., 2009, p. 203). The line of argument in the synthesis of studies on compassion fatigue presented here, and expressed in Figure 2, offered little new insight. Whatever happened to qualitative description? Our ultimate goal is to help address the nursing shortage by inspiring aspiring nurses that a career in nursing is an excellent choice, guiding students to become RNs, and for the working nurse – helping them achieve success in their careers! These themes were found following analysis of the included articles which are described in Table 1.