Is nurses' clinical competence associated with their compassion satisfaction, burnout and secondary traumatic stress? A cross-sectional study.

A significant positive relationship was observed between compassion satisfaction and clinical competence. A significant negative association was found between compassion satisfaction and secondary traumatic stress/burnout and also between secondary traumatic stress and clinical competence. The results of regression analysis indicated that compassion satisfaction was the best predictor of secondary traumatic stress (R 2 = 65%), burnout (R 2 = 40%) and clinical competence (R 2 = 12%). Moreover, secondary traumatic stress was found to be the best predictor of compassion satisfaction (R 2 = 53%).