There seems to be an “epidemic” of moral distress. But “moral distress” is a grab-bag of ideas and concepts often connected to (conflated with) compassion fatigue and burnout.  These concepts are not well-differentiated or well understood.

Moral distress is caused by the moral hazards of the work environment. The effects are enormous and insidious:

On patient care

On practitioners

On organizations

Current approaches focus on support for individual practitioners in the form of support for “resilience” and mental health supports.

On an Infection Prevention and Control model this is the equivalent of focusing on treatment after the person has become infected.  Necessary but entirely inadequate.

So what happens if you take an IPAC informed approach to the moral hazards of the health care work environment?

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The Ask

Are you (or a colleague) interested in participating in a working group?

Purpose

Co-design the Healthethics guide to:

Identifying the moral hazards of the health care at home environment, eliminating or mitigating those hazards where possible, and developing and equipping staff with moral personal protective equipment.

Outputs will include, policy, practice change recommendations, education, and fit-for-purpose moral PPE (personal protective equipment).

Who?

Cross section of interested participants across the spectrum of healthcare

What?

Monthly 1 hr meetings starting in May plus local discussions as required.

Conceptual Process

1. Understand the specific hazard
2. Eliminate or mitigate the hazard
   1. Targeted to specific moral hazards
3. Strengthen controls
   1. Isolate/separate people from the hazard
   2. Change the way people work
4. Protect with Moral PPE
5. Resilience and wellness supports