Feasibility of the ProQOL Health Measure in Trauma/Surgical Nurses: A Pilot Study

BACKGROUND: Compassion fatigue is a growing concern among trauma/surgical nurses. High patient acuity, traumatic event exposure, and ethically complex care elevate risk, contributing to emotional exhaustion and diminished clinical performance. The Professional Quality of Life Health Measure (PHM) was developed to better capture health care workers' experiences but lacks validation data. OBJECTIVE: To assess the feasibility, acceptability, and practicality of using the PHM among trauma/surgical nurses. Secondary aims focused on describing subscale distributions on the PHM. METHODS: This cross-sectional pilot study assessed the feasibility and acceptability among a convenience sample of trauma/surgical nurses from September 16 to November 8, 2024, at a suburban academic Level I trauma center in the northeastern United States with over 1200 inpatient beds. Participants completed the 30-item PHM. Feasibility was evaluated using response rate (>20%), completion rate (>90%), item-level missingness (≤5%), and time-to-completion (<10 minutes). RESULTS: Of 101 eligible nurses, 38 (37.6%) participated and 37 completed the survey (97.4%) exceeding set feasibility thresholds. Item-level missingness was low (0.88%). Most (67.6%) participants reported average compassion satisfaction, and all reported average or high perceived level of support. Compassion fatigue components (burnout, moral distress, and secondary traumatic stress), however, were average/high for over 75% of nurses. Variability was noted across all subscales. CONCLUSION: The PHM demonstrates feasibility and acceptability in trauma/surgical nurses and shows potential as a measure for trauma/surgical nurses. Despite reported compassion satisfaction, findings indicate persistent levels of burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and moral distress.