Table 1.

Definitions of various work-related conditions at work for nurses

	Definitions
Burnout	Special type of work-related stress — a state of physical or emotional exhaustion that also involves a sense of reduced accomplishment and loss of personal identity.1
Moral distress	First discussed by nursing; moral distress arises when one knows the right thing to do, but institutional constraints make it nearly impossible to pursue the right course of action.70
Moral injuries	An injury to an individual’s moral conscience resulting from an act of perceived moral transgression which produces profound emotional guilt and shame; often presented in veterans.71
Post-traumatic stress disorder or Secondary traumatic stress or Vicarious traumatization	Psychiatric disorder caused by exposure to a traumatic event or extreme stressor that is responded to with fear, helplessness, or horror;” experiencing, witnessing, or confrontation with an event or events that involve actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others” and involves “intense fear, helplessness, or horror”6
Compassion fatigue	Type of secondary traumatic stress that emanates from frontline professionals’ “cost of caring” for those who suffer psychological pain.72 Experiencing compassion fatigue can feel a loss of meaning and hope, in addition to regular burnout symptoms, a person.