EthicsLab Essentials Moral Distress and Moral Resiliency

Have you ever experienced an event, a situation or a decision where you felt that your professional integrity had been compromised? It may have occurred because of something you did, something someone else did or simply a number of events that lined up in a way that made you feel that you were between a rock and hard place. In that moment you probably experienced moral distress. In this episode, we look at moral distress in the health care environment. What are the clinical situations that cause moral distress to arise, what can be done to respond, can it be cured or is it a part of our moral life?

Our guests in this episode are:

• Dr. Cynda Rushton, the Anne and George L. Bunting Professor of Clinical Ethics in the Berman Institute of Bioethics and the School of Nursing at Johns Hopkins University
• Dr. M. Sara Rosenthal, Ph.D., Professor and Founding Director, Program for Bioethics, Departments of Internal Medicine, Pediatrics and Behavioral Science Chair, Hospital Ethics Committee, University of Kentucky and co-creator of the Moral Distress Education Project
• Dr. Beth Lown, Chief Medical Officer of the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare

Resources referenced in this episode:

• The Schwartz Center
• The Moral Distress Education Project
• The Boston Globe Magazine – Article by Ken Schwartz
• Facilitated Ethics Conversations: A Novel Program for Managing Moral Distress in Bedside Nursing Staff
• A Health System-wide Moral Distress Consultation Service: Development and Evaluation
• Development and Testing of an Instrument to Measure Moral Distress in Healthcare Professionals