Gades, N. M., Thompson, K. L., Mi, L. et al. 2020. Impact of euthanasia on compassion fatigue in personnel working in animal research. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 8(1) (January/February), 22-23.

We conducted a cross-sectional study to investigate the association between euthanasia and compassion fatigue among employees working in animal research at a large academic medical center. In summary, animal research workers who euthanize animals reported significantly more burnout and traumatic stress than workers who do not, and the magnitude of the differences was greater for burnout than for traumatic stress. Going forward, we will analyze our survey data further to determine whether factors such as years of employment, animal species, or method of euthanasia are associated with feelings of burnout and traumatic stress among individuals involved in euthanasia. This information may be used to inform targeted interventions to mitigate these aspects of compassion fatigue.