title: Moral distress in emergency nurses.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  For nurses, moral distress leads to burnout, attrition, compassion fatigue, and patient avoidance.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using a quantitative, cross-sectional, and descriptive design, we assessed the frequency, intensity, and type of moral distress in 51 emergency nurses in 1 community hospital using a 21-item, self-report, Likert-type questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results showed a total mean moral distress level of 3.18, indicative of overall low moral distress.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Situations with the highest levels of moral distress were related to the competency of health care providers and following family wishes to continue life support, also known as futile care. Moral distress was the reason given by 6.6% of registered nurses for leaving a previous position, 20% said that they had considered leaving a position but did not, and 13.3% stated that they are currently considering leaving their position because of moral distress.
authors: San Jose and Milipitas, CA. Electronic address: robin.f.parsons@kp.org.
authors: Robin
authors: R
authors: Fernandez-Parsons
authors: Lori
authors: L
authors: Rodriguez
authors: Deepika
authors: D
authors: Goyal
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D016529:Emergency Nursing / Q000941:ethics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009014:Morals; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000941:ethics / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Burnout; Emergency nurses; Ethical dilemmas; Moral distress