<p>Prevalence of severe moral distress among healthcare providers in Saudi Arabia</p>

Abstract

BackgroundMoral distress is a serious problem in healthcare environments that requires urgent attention and management. It occurs when healthcare providers are unable to provide the care that they feel is right or take, what they believe to be, ethically appropriate actions for their patients. Thus, this study aims to examine moral distress among nurses and physicians working in tertiary teaching hospitals in Saudi Arabia, as well as to evaluate the level of association between moral distress and turnover.MethodsThis cross-sectional study, which employed an anonymous 21-item Moral Distress Scale, was undertaken at a large medical institution located in different regions of Saudi Arabia. The data were analyzed using bivariate analyses, and logistic regression.ResultsOf the 342 participants, 239 (69.9%) were nurses/staff physicians and 103 (30.1%) were fellows/consultants. Approximately 24.3% of respondents experienced severe moral distress, whereas 75.7% reported mild moral distress. There was no statistically significant difference between men and women in terms of moral distress. Age was found to be a notable factor: moral distress was significantly higher in those younger than 37 years compared to those 37 years and older (P=0.015). Less than half of the participants (137, 42.8%) indicated their willingness to leave their jobs. A significant association was observed between severe moral distress and leaving the career (OR=3.16; P<0.01). Job category was also an important factor: nurses/staff physicians were almost two times more likely (OR =1.95, P=0.038) to leave their positions compared to fellows/consultants.ConclusionThis study revealed that moral distress, which is a serious problem that compromises the well-being of caregivers, was a predictive variable for the intention of healthcare providers to leave their jobs. Therefore, it should be routinely examined, and efficient action plans should be implemented to alleviate its consequences.

Moral distress among residents in neurology: a pilot study

“…The results of the present study reinforce this: Neurological residents who considered leaving the field of inpatient-care were older and had worked longer as physicians. The study could not show that considerations of leaving inpatient-care correlated with a higher average level of disturbance as previous studies had shown [ 22 , 36 ]. However, in the present study residents who considered leaving the field of inpatient-care experienced the mentioned conflict situations on average significantly more frequently.…”

Measuring nurses’ moral courage: an explorative study

“…Similarly, Bickhoff et al (13) and Escobar-Chua (12,13) described how nursing students lack moral courage due to their novice status, fear of consequence, lack of confidence and experience, and how moral distress drives students to avoid ethical conflicts. Although the position of junior nurses is not the same as that of nursing students, they both lack experience in acting morally courageously and possibly undergo a comparable experience when confronted with situations that provoke moral distress (30)(31)(32).…”

Levels of Moral Distress among Health Care Professionals Working in Hospital and Community Settings: A Cross Sectional Study

“…Previous studies on moral distress have shown that it was prevalent among all healthcare providers. A recent study conducted in Tehran has shown that nurses working in hospital have higher levels of Moral Distress [ 31 ], while Almutairi et al [ 32 ] have reported a moderate level of Moral Distress.…”