In 1984, Andrew Jameton conceptualized the definition of moral distress as the following: “(a) the psychological distress of (b) being in a situation in which one is constrained from acting (c) on what one knows to be right” (p. 6) and while this definition has developed more nuance over the years, this core concept remains….
In a word: yes. YES. It’s always a good time to think about what’s important to you if you cannot make your own healthcare decisions. And then you need to talk about it with your loved ones and make sure you’ve told your surrogate decision make what you want. Because the worst time to have…
For those of us in healthcare right now, there are many real/potential causes of moral distress related to the pandemic, let alone our regular, everyday work. Do we have PPE? Is there enough of it? Who is getting tested? Are there even any tests available? Test backlogs. Do we have enough staff? ICU beds? Ventilators?…
In an article out last week, bioethicicsts Alyssa Burgart and Holly Tabor discuss the recent Covid-19 outbreak and the moral courage shown by frontline healthcare professionals. Moral courage, or “the ability to take action for moral reasons, despite the risk of adverse consequences ” has been paramount to the response to this outbreak. Were it…
(or, why such a big topic for a DNP project instead of something “easy” like increasing STD screening or reducing inappropriate use of antibiotics?) Well, the short answer is that it became very obvious to me that the ethics education I got in nursing school was not nearly enough to prepare me for the ethical…
