Abstract
Nurse clinicians may experience moral distress when they are unable to translate their moral choices into moral action. The costs of unrelieved moral distress are high; ultimately, as with all unresolved professional conflicts, the quality of patient care suffers. As a systematic process for change, this article offers the AACN's Model to Rise Above Moral Distress, describing four A's: ask, affirm, assess, and act. To help critical care nurses working to address moral distress, the article identifies 11 action steps they can take to develop an ethical practice environment.
MeSH terms
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Adaptation, Psychological
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Attitude of Health Personnel
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Burnout, Professional / prevention & control*
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Burnout, Professional / psychology
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Causality
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Choice Behavior
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Codes of Ethics
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Communication
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Conflict, Psychological
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Critical Care / ethics
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Critical Care / organization & administration
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Critical Care / psychology*
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Data Collection
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Humans
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Interprofessional Relations
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Leadership*
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Models, Nursing
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Models, Psychological
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Morals*
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Nurse Administrators / ethics
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Nurse Administrators / organization & administration
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Nurse Administrators / psychology*
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Nurse's Role / psychology
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Nursing Staff, Hospital / ethics
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Nursing Staff, Hospital / organization & administration
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Nursing Staff, Hospital / psychology*
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Nursing, Supervisory / organization & administration
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Professional Autonomy
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Social Support