Moral injury in healthcare workers

ABSTRACT

Moral injury, known from military medicine, is getting more attention also in the context of healthcare provision related to COVID-19 pandemic. Moral injury represents an intense cognitive and emotional response to events that jeopardize one's moral or ethical beliefs. Healthcare professionals had to quickly learn how to provide care to an enormous amount of patients, making compromising decision, often giving up their professionals standards and preferring what had to be done instead of what should be done. The aim of this review is to map out the psychological impact of potentially morally injurious events in the context of current pandemic, describe specific risks related to ethical distress and to suggest effective strategies to mitigate the impact of moral injury on healthcare professionals' mental health.