Nursing is a fulfilling profession given the fact that nurses work whole-heartedly and are always devoted to their work. A satisfactory feeling is exuded when one knows that he/she plays a role in saving someone else’s life. On the other hand, it is such an involving profession with many difficulties that accompanies it. Based on Healthy Nurse and Healthy Nation (2021), moral distress is a situation in which a nurse determines the right thing that ought to be done but he/she is constrained by institutional barriers. This essay aims to discuss moral distress in the Nursing profession.
Firstly, my nursing experience has been quite fruitful in terms of making proper decisions for the sake of well-being of a patient. However, in a number of instances, I could be told stringent things to do without room for flexibility or change of thought. For instance, a patient who suffered intense physical trauma in the I.C.U. was in need of pain-relieving medication intravenously. I forwarded the matter to the physician who was in charge of the patient. However, the doctor insisted on no need of painkillers for the patient despite overwhelming scientific evidence based on my medical expertise.
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To deal with the situation, I explained it to other nurses who have faced the same treatment and through this, I was able to overcome the distress. In addition, the hospital had an ethics training institution that aimed to equip nurses with the skill to overcome such occurrences. According to (Underhill &Finkle,2021),nurses who possess ethics training are best able to curb moral distress,Moreover,determining the most common root causes of moral distress in our nursing unit was a form of support.
Conclusion
Many nurses are greatly affected by moral distress because it is extremely demoralizing to know that you are competent enough to execute a task but the only setbacks are physicians and institutional rules that requires one to follow rigid guidelines. To make the nursing profession more enjoyable and productive, all the stakeholders in the healthcare system should urgently address moral distress because nurses are an integral part of any health system.
References
Underhill, & Finkle. (2021). Moral Distress in Nursing and Available Support Systems. Retrieved 15 June 2021, from https://rn-journal.com/journal-of-nursing/moral-distress-in-nursing-and-available-support-systems
Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation. (2021). Moral Distress: What It Is And What To Do About It - Blog - Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation™. Retrieved 15 June 2021, from https://engage.healthynursehealthynation.org/blogs/8/531
