The Issue of Moral Distress

Moral distress is a challenging problem for residents and other healthcare workers that can result in negative psychological outcomes and a decrease in job retainment. It can be a direct outcome of the stressors medical residents face during their residencies that may affect not only patient care but also the residents’ ability to function effectively within their programs. This chapter gives an overview of the scholarship on moral distress within the medical establishment, which is integral to understanding the relationships between moral distress and moral disengagement, along with ethical climate. To date, much of the research on this topic has focused on nurses. However, medical residents often face the same pressures other medical personnel experience. In reviewing the literature on moral distress, I extend the discussion to include how the findings can apply to medical residents and include interviews with various residents who relate occurrences during their medical training that led to experiences of moral distress.