Objective.

To determine the effect of fear and coping with death on compassion fatigue in nurses working in the intensive care unit.

Methods.

Correlational-predictive design, applied in 245 nurses working in the intensive care unit through intentional sampling. The study applied a personal data card, the Collet-Lester Fear of Death Scale (α=0.72), the Bugen Fell of Death Scale (α=0.82), and the Empathy Exhaustion Scale (α=0.80). Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed, such as Spearman's test and a structural equation model.

Results.

The work had 255 nurses who participated, finding a relationship among fear and coping toward death and compassion fatigue (p<0.01), together with the equation model showing that fear and coping toward death have a positive effect in 43.6% on compassion fatigue.

Conclusion.

Fear and coping with death have an effect on compassion fatigue in nurses working in the intensive care unit, so that when working in a critical area it can cause health effects.

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