Moral distress in healthcare professionals
Moral distress is internal conflict created by an inability to act in accordance with one’s views, beliefs and values, and it can negatively impact physical and mental health and wellbeing. Many factors and clinical circumstances can contribute to moral distress in healthcare professionals providing palliative care, particularly managing:
- differing expectations of care
- perceived and actual needs of patients and their families or carers
- legal and bioethical issues
- the realities of dying and death.
Dealing with ethical challenges, and requests to hasten death may also contribute to moral distress in healthcare professionalsKelly, 2020.