“Do I stay or do I go now?” Exploring the concept of moral distress in operating room nurses
Background
Operating room nursing is a highly charged profession and like most specialties is faced with life and death decisions to ethical dilemmas. Moral distress is a concept that has been explored in various different nursing specialties. The research shows that moral distress can impact practice negatively such as contributing to burnout, mental and physical illness, as well as premature abandoning of the profession. The concept of moral distress has never been studied in operating room nurses and since this specialty practices in an ever changing challenging environment it is worthy of exploration.
Methods
A quantitative, voluntary electronic survey design study utilizing the Moral Distress Score Revised (MDS-R) (Hamric) and the COPE inventory (Carver) was conducted at a multi-campus hospital system in the northeast. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data.
Results
Three hundred operating nurses were invited to participate in the study, which yielded a 20% response rate (N=61). Overall the total MDS-R was low, but when separated for those nurses who have either left a position due to moral distress or were considering leaving now was almost triple. The amount of moral distress was also found to be lower when the nurses reported using positive coping mechanisms and had a practice environment that was considered positive.
Implications
Moral distress is present in operating room nurses and positive coping mechanisms and a healthy work environment may be able to help mitigate the negative impact. The amount of overall moral distress can influence retention and overall health and well-being in operating room nurses. With the looming shortage of specialty nurses especially operating room nurses in acute care, this study can assist leaders in creating a positive work environment. Ultimately retaining experienced operating room nurses has both a financial implication along with postive patient outcomes.