Blog spotlight: Is moral distress a nursing epidemic?
Nurse Leader Weekly, March 16, 2009
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Nurse Leader Weekly!
Being a nurse can be empowering. You and your staff have the knowledge to ease pain, heal injury, fight disease, and save lives. And at times, you may feel that nurses—more than anyone else—know what is best for patients.
But are there ever times when you feel powerless because what you feel is the best course of action isn't carried out?
A recent New York Times article explores the issue of moral distress in nurses and physicians, which is defined as knowing what is ethically appropriate but being unable to act on it due to obstacles inherent to a situation. The article discusses an increasing amount of nurses and physicians feeling the "competing demands of administrators, insurance companies, lawyers, patients' families and even one another," who then must act in a manner opposing their personal and professional values.
A 2007 study conducted among 1,200 nurses by the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing linked concerns protecting patients' rights, supporting patients through end-of-life decisions, and fairly distributing resources as causes of moral distress. The effect? Twenty-five percent of nurses were found to experience moral distress, causing them to want to leave their positions. Another 41% failed to say they would choose nursing as a profession again.
Is moral distress prevalent at your facility?
Respond to this post with questions or ideas. There's no need to log on. Just click the comments link and let your voice be heard.
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Nurse Leader Weekly!
Related Products
-
Strengthening Nurse-to-Nurse Relationships:
This educational video will help nurses at all levels understand the issue of horizontal hostility. It provides the expert...
-
Ending Nurse-to-Nurse Hostility:
Through captivating anecdotal scenarios, author Kathleen Bartholomew, RN, MN examines the many facets of horizontal...
-
Nurse Coaching and Mentoring: Set Expectations and Improve Staff Performance
Discover innovative, field-tested methods to coach your nursing staff during this 90-minute audio conference. Expert author...
-
Nurse Residency Programs
The IOM report on the Future of Nursing made just eight recommendations, one of which is all new nurses be enrolled a nurse...
-
Strengthening Nurse-Physician Relationships:
Using engaging case scenarios, critical thinking activities, and tangible advice, this video will guide and empower nurses...
Most Popular
- Articles
-
- Featured blog post: Nurses face felony charges after reporting physician to the Texas Medical Board
- Topic: CMS, OESS post new security compliance review information, checklist
- Q/A: Volume requirement for reporting hydration services
- HIPAA Q&A: Answering service messages
- News and briefs: Oklahoma Osteopathic Association against residency bill change
- What does case-mix index mean to you?
- QA:Coding multiple initial infusions
- OB services: Coding inside and outside of the package
- State medical board will hear unprofessional charges against OB-GYN
- The debate continues: Nurses who reported physician to the Texas Medical Board file federal appeal
- E-mailed
-
- Featured blog post: Nurses face felony charges after reporting physician to the Texas Medical Board
- Are your workforce members texting PHI?
- Don't let these sentinel events trigger falsely
- Arkansas woman convicted for HIPAA violation
- Q/A: Coding infusions to correct low potassium levels
- Q&A: Coding for protein malnutrition
- Q&A tackles coding questions about injections and infusions
- Joint Commission Center announces handoff communication solutions
- Inside best practice: Reduce patient falls with a stoplight
- Identify modifiable risk factors to prevent patient falls
- Searched