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Sunday, November 1, 2009
Learning Objective 1: identify the impact of a Pediatric Quality of Life Team on the moral distress of health care providers.
Learning Objective 2: recognize causes of moral distress among health care providers.
Care of children undergoing treatment for life-threatening illnesses is not always straight forward and can lead to moral distress in their caregivers. Moral distress occurs when a health care provider is confident an ethical course of action is appropriate but is unable to take that action. Several factors lead to moral distress including lack of provider skill or appropriate staffing, providing care mandated by a physician or family member that may not be in the patient’s best interest, and deceiving patients or family members. Because of the varied ethical decisions that arise during palliative and end-of-life care, moral distress can be common in caregivers of these patients. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the extent of moral distress experienced by pediatric health care providers of children with life-threatening illnesses in a larger tertiary teaching hospital.
A descriptive comparative study was used to describe the extent of moral distress experienced by nurses, physicians and other pediatric health care providers involved in the care of children. Participants were recruited by email and directed to a website to complete a web-based Moral Distress Survey. Data collected includes participants’ perceptions of the amount of distress experienced during ethical situations, frequency with which these situations are encountered, and the affect of work-related distress on the employee’s personal and professional life. Data collection and analysis is ongoing.
A descriptive comparative study was used to describe the extent of moral distress experienced by nurses, physicians and other pediatric health care providers involved in the care of children. Participants were recruited by email and directed to a website to complete a web-based Moral Distress Survey. Data collected includes participants’ perceptions of the amount of distress experienced during ethical situations, frequency with which these situations are encountered, and the affect of work-related distress on the employee’s personal and professional life. Data collection and analysis is ongoing.