Critical Care Nurses' Perceptions of and Responses to Moral Distress

TLDR

Nurses often face conflicts in healthcare decisions that they perceive as morally wrong, and this moral distress has been linked to adverse well‑being outcomes, turnover, burnout, and attrition. The study aims to determine whether moral distress influences critical‑care nurses’ provision of care and to explore how it does so. Moral distress was found to impact nurses’ provision of care.

Abstract

In Brief Nurses frequently experience conflict regarding healthcare decisions, yet are expected to implement actions which they perceive to be morally wrong. Research has described the deleterious effects of this moral incongruency, coined moral distress, on nurses' well being and has identified it as a causative agent in nursing turnover, burnout, and nurses leaving the profession. Thus, it is known that moral distress has significant consequences for nurses, but does moral distress affect nurses' provision of care, and if so, how? Nurses frequently experience conflict regarding healthcare decisions and other aspects of their professional lives. Moral distress can affect the nurses' provision of care. This study examines the issue of moral distress in critical care nurses.