'It hurts your heart': frontline healthcare worker experiences of moral injury during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background: Moral injury is defined as the strong emotional and cognitive reactions following events which clash with someone's moral code, values or expectations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, increased exposure to Potentially Morally Injurious Events (PMIEs) has placed healthcare workers (HCW...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European journal of psychotraumatology Vol. 13; no. 2; p. 2128028
Main Authors: Hegarty, Siobhan, Lamb, Danielle, Stevelink, Sharon A. M., Bhundia, Rupa, Raine, Rosalind, Doherty, Mary Jane, Scott, Hannah R., Marie Rafferty, Anne, Williamson, Victoria, Dorrington, Sarah, Hotopf, Matthew, Razavi, Reza, Greenberg, Neil, Wessely, Simon
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States Taylor & Francis 19.12.2022
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Taylor & Francis Group
Subjects:
Basic
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Cualitativo
Daño Moral
Eventos potencialmente dañinos para la moral
Health Personnel - psychology
healthcare workers
Humans
Medical personnel
Mental health
moral distress
Moral injury
Morals
national health service
NHS
Pandemics
PMIE
PMIEs
potentially morally injurious events
qualitative
Servicio de salud nacional
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - epidemiology
Sufrimiento moral
Trabajadores de la salud
医护人员
国民医护服务
定性的
潜在道德伤害事件
道德伤害
道德困境
COVID-19
Moral injury
PMIEs
qualitative
healthcare workers
NHS
moral distress
national health service
potentially morally injurious events
ISSN:2000-8066, 2000-8066
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Summary:Background: Moral injury is defined as the strong emotional and cognitive reactions following events which clash with someone's moral code, values or expectations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, increased exposure to Potentially Morally Injurious Events (PMIEs) has placed healthcare workers (HCWs) at risk of moral injury. Yet little is known about the lived experience of cumulative PMIE exposure and how NHS staff respond to this. Objective: We sought to rectify this knowledge gap by qualitatively exploring the lived experiences and perspectives of clinical frontline NHS staff who responded to COVID-19. Methods: We recruited a diverse sample of 30 clinical frontline HCWs from the NHS CHECK study cohort, for single time point qualitative interviews. All participants endorsed at least one item on the 9-item Moral Injury Events Scale (MIES) [Nash et al., 2013. Psychometric evaluation of the moral injury events scale. Military Medicine, 178(6), 646-652] at six month follow up. Interviews followed a semi-structured guide and were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results: HCWs described being routinely exposed to ethical conflicts, created by exacerbations of pre-existing systemic issues including inadequate staffing and resourcing. We found that HCWs experienced a range of mental health symptoms primarily related to perceptions of institutional betrayal as well as feeling unable to fulfil their duty of care towards patients. Conclusion: These results suggest that a multi-facetted organisational strategy is warranted to prepare for PMIE exposure, promote opportunities for resolution of symptoms associated with moral injury and prevent organisational disengagement. HIGHLIGHTS Clinical frontline healthcare workers (HCWs) have been exposed to an accumulation of potentially morally injurious events (PMIEs) throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, including feeling betrayed by both government and NHS leaders as well as feeling unable to provide duty of care to patients. HCWs described the significant adverse impact of this exposure on their mental health, including increased anxiety and depression symptoms and sleep disturbance. Most HCWs interviewed believed that organisational change within the NHS was necessary to prevent excess PMIE exposure and promote resolution of moral distress.
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ISSN:2000-8066
2000-8066
DOI:10.1080/20008066.2022.2128028