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COVID-19 and Moral Distress: A Pediatric Critical Care Survey
Tessy A Thomas1, F Daniel Davis2, Shelley Kumar3
1Tessy A. Thomas is an assistant professor of pediatrics and bioethics, Geisinger Janet Weis Children's Hospital, Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, Pennsylvania.
Insights
Pediatric critical care professionals experienced significant moral distress during the COVID-19 pandemic, often due to challenges to professional integrity and lack of support. However, they demonstrated moral resilience, highlighting organizational opportunities to foster supportive work environments.
Area of Science:
- Medical Ethics
- Critical Care Medicine
- Psychology
Background:
- Moral distress negatively impacts patient care quality.
- It places healthcare professionals at risk for burnout, moral injury, and loss of professional integrity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate moral distress experienced by pediatric critical care professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- To identify the specific reasons for this moral distress.
Main Methods:
- An exploratory survey was conducted among pediatric critical care professionals.
- The survey utilized a framework integrating literature on moral distress and resilience.
- Data analysis included descriptive statistics and thematic analysis.
Main Results:
- 85.8% of respondents reported moral distress, with nurses experiencing it more intensely.
- Key factors included challenges to professional integrity and insufficient organizational support.
- Identified themes were psychological safety, leadership expectations, moral community, professional identity, and responsibility.
Conclusions:
- Pediatric critical care professionals faced moral distress during the pandemic, challenging their professional integrity.
- Despite distress, professionals exhibited moral resilience.
- Organizations can improve work environments to mitigate moral distress.
Background:
Moral distress adversely affects the delivery of high-quality patient care and places health care professionals at risk for burnout, moral injury, and the loss of professional integrity.
Objectives:
To investigate whether pediatric critical care professionals are experiencing moral distress during the COVID-19 pandemic and, if so, for what reasons.
Methods:
An exploratory survey of pediatric critical care professionals was conducted via the Pediatric Acute Lung Injury and Sepsis Investigators Network from April to May 2020. The survey was derived from a framework integrating contemporary literature on moral distress, moral resilience, and expert consensus. Integration of descriptive statistics for quantitative data and thematic analysis for qualitative data yielded mixed insights.
Results:
Overall, 85.8% of survey respondents reported moral distress. Nurses reported higher degrees of moral distress than other professional groups. Inducers of moral distress were related to challenges to professional integrity and lack of organizational support. Five themes were identified: (1) psychological safety, (2) expectations of leadership, (3) connectedness through a moral community, (4) professional identity challenges, and (5) professional versus social responsibility. Most respondents were confident in their ability to reason through ethical dilemmas (76.0%) and think clearly when confronting an ethical challenge even when pressured (78.9%).
Conclusions:
During the COVID-19 pandemic, pediatric critical care professionals are experiencing moral distress due to various factors that challenge their professional integrity. Despite these challenges, they also exhibit attributes of moral resilience. Organizations have opportunities to cultivate a psychologically safe and healthy work environment to mitigate anticipatory, present, and lingering moral distress.
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