Emergency nurses’ experience of coping with moral distress

Abstract

Purpose: We explored emergency nurses’ experiences of coping with moral distress.Methods: A qualitative research design was used. We conducted in-depth interviews with 11 nurses working at a regional emergency medical center in South Korea. Data were analyzed using conventional content analysis.Results: The main theme of nurses’ coping with moral distress was “a passive emotion-based response.” We also extracted three categories of coping strategies: “uncritical adaptation to anguished situation,” “self-justification for not acting,” and “flight from ethical decision making.”Conclusion: Nurses coped with moral distress in a passive and emotional way, possibly because of perceived incompetence and compliance to an organizational hierarchy. The findings imply that effective approaches to addressing moral distress in emergency nurses are needed at the individual and organizational levels.