Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Moral Distress: Unaddressed Challenges For The “Most Honest And Ethical Profession”, Kelly Straight

DNP Qualifying Manuscripts

Nurses and nurse practitioners (NPs) face greater responsibility to address the ethical challenges that present during the course of patient care, due to advances in medical technology and pharmaceutical innovation, and despite widening disparities within the U.S. healthcare system. These ethical questions, which arise during the course of routine patient care, are increasing in both number and complexity in nearly every patient care setting. Unresolved and/or ongoing ethical questions and conflicts encountered in patient care pose further issues such as the development of moral distress. The literature demonstrates that moral distress contributes to dissatisfaction, disengagement, and burnout which negatively affects …