Approximately 43 500 000 family caregivers provide unpaid care to an adult or child. Most caregivers provide care to older adults, most often parents. Caregivers are often ill-prepared to assist their loved ones, creating or increasing caregiving burden and/or risk of compassion fatigue, potentially leading to critical "caregiving tipping points." Identifying families who are experiencing increased burden or risk of compassion fatigue is a skill that nurses, including infusion nurses, who have unique entree into the caregiving situation, should develop.
