Moral distress is a negative emotional and somatic response to external constraints on moral action. The constraints are typically identified as a component of the work environment, called the ethical climate. Moral distress is identified as a primary reason for job attrition by up to one-quarter of registered nurses who leave their jobs. One strategy suggested to staff nurses who experience mo...

For this open issue of the Etikk i Praksis: Nordic Journal Applied Ethics, we put together a broad mix different articles tackling current important issues in field.

: To examine practices for addressing moral distress, a collaborative project was developed by the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, the American Journal of Nursing, and the Journal of Christian Nursing, along with the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses and the American Nurses Association. Its purpose was to identify strategies that indi...

The purpose of this exploratory, descriptive study was to determine if moral distress levels differed between certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) working in medically supervised versus independent practice in California. A 63-question survey was administered to 1,190 California CRNAs. Moral distress was measured by the included Ethics Stress Scale. The response rate was 14.7%, yield...

Researchers have identified the phenomena of moral distress through many studies in Western countries. This research reports the first study of moral distress in Iran. Because of the differences in cultural values and nursing education, nurses working in intensive care units may experience moral distress differently than reported in previous studies. This research used a qualitative method invo...

AIM To determine the prevalence and contributing factors of moral distress in medical and surgical nurses. BACKGROUND Moral distress from ethical conflicts in the work environment is associated with burnout and job turnovers in nurses. METHOD A prospective cross-sectional survey using the Moral Distress Scale tool was administered to medical and surgical nurses at an adult acute tertiary ca...

Registered nurses are frequently confronted with ethical dilemmas in their nursing practice. As a consequence of their decisions regarding ethical challenges, nurses report experiencing moral distress. This experience is often manifested by such feelings as anger, guilt, and sadness, and has been identified as a contributing factor to burnout and turnover in nursing. The purpose of this explora...