Abstract
Introduction
When professional nurses face an obstacle in their perfect purposes, they would experience moral distress which is a suffering situation. This study aims at exploring conditions which lead to high levels of moral distress for nursing personnel within a teaching hospital in Iran.
Methods
All nursing staffs worked in ICU, CCU, open heart surgery and emergency ward of a teaching hospital in Mashhad, Iran, were evaluated in a descriptive study by translated and modified moral distress questionnaire of Corley.
Results
According to the participants, the mean age and work experience were 34.15 ± 4.17 and 10.77 ± 4.06, respectively. Almost 91.5% of nurses had a bachelor degree, and 51.1% of them were female. The most amount of moral distress was identified in contribution to physicians who have not enough skills, disregarding patients' right, and the inability for providing drugs.
Discussion
Post-CCU and assistant nurses, especially female individuals had higher scores of moral distress compare with others in our study. However, some studies have reported different results between demographic features and the moral distress of nurses. These divert findings might have been created due to cultural issues or be related to conflicts caused by personal and social roles.
Conclusion
Classification of moral distress in nurses based on practical situations in teaching hospitals may be helpful for healthcare managers. Making new policies to mitigate moral distress in the care field would be useful in the promotion of self-efficiency in nursing staffs as well as mental health and public welfare.
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