Moral distress in nurses employed in selected hospitals of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences

Abstract

Introduction: Moral distress due to adverse effects such as disappointment and feeling sin, insecurity, fear, discouragement and depression in nurses can effect on their professional characteristic and operation. This study was carried out with the aim of determining the rate of moral distress in employed nurses of dependent training hospitals to Shahid Beheshti University of medical sciences, in 2014.Method: This cross-sectional descriptive study was done on 200 employed nurses selected by random sampling method. We used Corley moral distress questionnaire for data gathering. Data analyzed by SPSS V.21software.Results: The level of ethical distress was average. Average distress in the field of professional mistakes were upper than other fields. Findings revealed that there wasn’t any significant relationship between demographic characteristics of nurses and their moral distress (P>0/05).Conclusion: Regarding to average level of moral distress in participant nurses, institutional and nursing managers should design structures to decreasing nurses’ moral distress and support nurses who suffer from moral distress. So, efforts to decreasing nurses’ moral distress and study of other influencing factors are suggested.