Moral Distress: An Emerging Problem

¶ … Moral distress: an emerging problem for nurses in long-term care? By several authors talks about moral distress in nursing - what it is, what causes it, and how nurses should deal with it. There have been studies into moral distress in nurses who work in high-stress areas, like intensive care, but there have not been studies into nurses who work in long-term care, and that is what this study is doing. Moral distress happens when nurses know they should do something, but cannot because of limits or rules in the healthcare system, and this can be difficult to manage. The article says, "Jameton suggested that moral distress arises when 'one knows the right thing to do, but institutional constraints make it nearly impossible to pursue the right course of action'" (Pijl-Zieber, et al., p. 40). This is a hard place for a nurse to be, and this is why this is such an important issue to study. Moral distress can affect the mind, the body, and other relationships, according to the researchers, and it can lead to nurses leaving their jobs, or even choosing another career over nursing if it keep on long enough. If this happens, it can lead to more understaffing, more nurses leaving, and the problem never gets solved.

This study shows that several things contribute to moral distress, like when a nurse cannot be a patient advocate, the nurse and doctor do not work together, and the nurses don't get support from management and administration. The study also looks at the effects of moral distress, like anger and shame, anxiety and even depression (Pijl-Zieber, et al., p. 44). It can lead to stress and stress-related symptoms like headaches and bad habits, and it can lead to guilt, and nurses may stop caring about their patients, which leads to poor care for the patients and unhappiness in job.

The article gives some ways to deal with moral distress, like education, understanding the nursing code of ethics, learning to assess problems, and speaking out about problems and conditions. The authors also think that nurses should look for support from their peers, and speak out to management when it is necessary. They think nurses should seek support from doctors, too, and that administration should try to communicate more and be more understanding of nurses' concerns and complaints.

This was not a formal study in that the authors developed a research questionnaire or something - they reviewed literature, came to their conclusions, and made a recommendation for change in their conclusion, which is that moral distress is keeping good nurses away from long-term care, and patients aren't getting good quality care when there is moral distress in the staff. They think this problem needs to be addressed and that it will become worse as more baby-boomers get older and need long-term care.

To come to their conclusion, the authors read a lot of material on moral distress, and that is how they found that there haven't been studies on moral distress in long-term care, and that needs to be done. Basically, this is a literature review that shows how moral distress can lead to job dissatisfaction, poor patient care, and sometimes nurses choosing new careers, and this is bad for the healthcare industry. They also think that someone needs to do a real study on moral distress in long-term care, and that it should be done soon, because the problem is getting worse and nothing is being done about it.