How Professional Nurses Working in Hospital Environments Experience Moral Distress: A Systematic Review

How Professional Nurses Working in Hospital Environments Experience Moral Distress: A Systematic Review Dolores M. Huffman and Leslie Rittenmeyer The overall objective of this meta-aggregate systematic review was to appraise and synthesize the best available evidence on how professional nurses working in hospital environments experience ethical/moral distress. This review considered qualitative research whose participants were professional nurses working in hospital environments and experienced either moral or ethical distress as a result of their patient care responsibilities. Health care institutions need to address concerns related to moral distress by providing structures of support. This support should include education and allow nurses to express ethical concerns and provide nursing care that does not violate their core professional values.