Compassion Fatigue, Professional Quality of Life, and Psychological Endurance Among Organ Transplant Coordinators.

PURPOSE: Organ transplant coordinators are affected by the experienced traumas of patients and relatives, which increases their risk of compassion fatigue. This study was conducted to determine the effect of compassion fatigue on organ transplant coordinators and to reveal its relationship with professional quality of life and endurance. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This descriptive study was carried out between November 2017 and March 2018 among organ transplant coordinators working in Turkey. Out of the total 187 coordinators, 91 (48.6%) agreed to participate. Data collection was performed via a demographic information questionnaire, the 24-item Compassion Scale developed by Pommier, the 30-item Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) Scale developed by Stamm, and the 33-item Psychological Endurance Scale developed by Friborg et al. FINDINGS: Among the compassion subscales, the highest mean scores were in the kindness subscale, while the lowest mean scores were received from the indifference subscale. In the ProQOL, the compassion satisfaction subscale received the highest scores. The scores of the Psychological Endurance Scale were also high. There were statistically significant, weak to moderate correlations between all compassion subdimensions with absolute values of correlation coefficients (r) ranging from 0.260 to 0.690 (P < .05). There was a significant positive correlation between the burnout and compassion fatigue/traumatic stress subscales of the ProQOL (r = 0.660; P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate that ProQOL and psychological endurance are essential determinants of compassion fatigue among organ transplant coordinators. We suggest that correcting the working quality of organ transplant coordinators will reduce compassion fatigue and increase their psychological stability.

Does topical use of autologous serum help to reduce post-tonsillectomy morbidity? A prospective, controlled preliminary study.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the effects of autologous serum usage on throat pain, haemorrhage and tonsillar fossa epithelisation in patients after tonsillectomy. METHODS: Thirty-two patients (aged 4-15 years) were included in the study. Tonsillectomy was performed and autologous serum was administered topically to the right tonsillar fossa during the operation, and at 8 and 24 hours post-operatively. The left side served as the control. A visual analogue scale was used to record the patient's pain every day. Each patient's oropharynx was observed on the 5th and 10th post-operative days to examine bleeding and epithelisation. RESULTS: The pain scores for the side administered autologous serum were significantly lower than those for the control side, on the night following the operation and on the 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th post-operative days. Tonsillar fossa epithelisation was significantly accelerated on the study side compared with the control side on the 5th and 10th post-operative days. CONCLUSION: In tonsillectomy patients, topically administered autologous serum contributed to throat pain relief and tonsillar fossa epithelisation during the post-operative period.

Investigation of the effects of oleuropein rich diet on rat enteric bacterial flora.

OBJECTIVES AND BACKGROUND: Oleuropein is a phenolic compound of olive leaves. Enteric bacterial flora is very important for human health and diet is a directly affecting factor of enteric bacterial flora composition. In this study, it was hypothesized that oleuropein could reduce total aerobic bacterial count in rat caecal flora. METHODS: Twenty adult, male, Wistar albino rats were randomly divided into two groups. Group C (n=10) was fed with standard rat chow and water for 30 days. Group O (n=10) received olive leaf extract 20 mg/kg/day by intragastric gavage in addition to standard rat chow and water for 30 days. One gram of caecal content was collected from each rat and then consecutive 10-fold serial dilutions were prepared with a final concentration of 10-8. Then 0.1 ml of each dilution were spread onto the surfaces of Plate Count Agar and Violet Red Bile Glucose Agar to enumerate the aerobic enteric bacteria. RESULTS: Total aerobic bacterial counts of Group O were significantly lower than of Group C in all agar plates inoculated with ceacal samples for every dilution (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Adding oleuropein to enteral feeding solutions of critically ill patients may be adventageous in the presence of clinical conditions predisposing to bacterial translocation by reducing enteric bacterial counts (Tab. 1, Ref. 32).