Moral Distress in Emergency Nurses
Abstract
Introduction For nurses, moral distress leads to burnout, attrition, compassion fatigue, and patient avoidance. Methods Using a quantitative, cross-sectional, and descriptive design, we assessed the frequency, intensity, and type of moral distress in 51 emergency nurses in 1 community hospital using a 21-item, self-report, Likert-type questionnaire. Results Results showed a total mean moral distress level of 3.18, indicative of overall low moral distress. Discussion Situations with the highest levels of moral distress were related to the competency of health care providers and following family wishes to continue life support, also known as futile care. Moral distress was the reason given by 6.6% of registered nurses for leaving a previous position, 20% said that they had considered leaving a position but did not, and 13.3% stated that they are currently considering leaving their position because of moral distress.
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Ethical problems can lead to compromised moral integrity and generate moral distress.
“This, in turn, might lead to compromised moral integrity and generate moral distress [11, 15, 16], as these reactions result from acting or not acting on the basis of one's own sense of right and wrong [17].”
From Ethics education to support ethical competence learning in healthcare: an integrative systematic review (2022) · cites this paper as [16]
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Andersson, H., Svensson, A., Frank, C., Rantala, A., Holmberg, M., & Bremer, A. (2022) · BMC Medical Ethics · doi:10.1186/s12910-022-00766-z · Cited by 252 · see citing works
“This, in turn, might lead to compromised moral integrity and generate moral distress [11, 15, 16], as these reactions result from acting or not acting on the basis of one’s own sense of right and wrong [17].”
BackgroundNursing Moral Distress and Intent to Leave Employment During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Sheppard, K. N., Runk, B. G., Maduro, R. S., Fancher, M., Mayo, A. N., Wilmoth, D. D., Morgan, M. K., & Zimbro, K. S. (2022) · Journal of Nursing Care Quality · doi:10.1097/ncq.0000000000000596 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
<p>Prevalence of severe moral distress among healthcare providers in Saudi Arabia</p>
Almutairi, A. F., Salam, M., Adlan, A., & Alturki, A. (2019) · Psychology Research and Behavior Management · doi:10.2147/prbm.s191037 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
Bayat, M., Shahriari, M., & Keshvari, M. (2019) · Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine · doi:10.18502/jmehm.v12i8.1339 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
- Authors
- Fernandez-Parsons, R., Rodriguez, L., & Goyal, D.
- Affiliations
- Kaiser Permanente (US)
- Corresponding author
- Fernandez-Parsons, Robin
- ORCID
- Goyal, Deepika
- Venue
- Journal of Emergency Nursing
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2013-11
- Volume
- 39
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 547-552
- ISSN
- 0099-1767 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2046339995
- Cited by
- 111
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 12.07
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Emergency Nursing (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Ethics in medical practice
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Palliative and Oncologic Care
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Information Systems and Management › Ethics in Business and Education
- Keywords
- moral distress, emergency department nurses, burnout, compassion fatigue, nurse attrition, family wishes, nurse retention
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Attitude of Health Personnel, Burnout, Professional, Cross-Sectional Studies, Humans, Middle Aged, Morals, Nursing Staff, Hospital, Surveys and Questionnaires, Emergency Nursing
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