The Burden of Care: Let’s Talk about Moral Distress

Moral distress is the ethical crisis that occurs when you believe you know the right thing to do but can’t act accordingly because of circumstances beyond your control. Moral distress impacts nurses as well as patient care and the healthcare system.

Research suggests that nurses who compromise their values experience a range of physical and emotional symptoms. The power of recognizing moral distress is that it reveals a moral engagement in our practice; it is a sign that our patients and their vulnerabilities matter to us.

Join Dr. Sadie Deschenes, incoming Assistant Professor (January 2024) in the Faculty of Nursing and postdoctoral fellow in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, for an interactive discussion on how you can support yourself and your colleagues while immersed in the complex nature of ethical situations in day-to-day nursing practice.

This event is open to all alumni, students and community members.

Speaker

Dr. Sadie Deschenes, '12 BScN, '17 MNus, '22 PhD is a post-doctoral fellow in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Alberta. Dr. Deschenes’ research interests include ethics, moral distress, and intervention development. Her research focuses on developing, implementing, and evaluating evidence-and-ethic informed moral distress interventions for intensive care unit healthcare professionals through stakeholder engagement. In addition to being a postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Deschenes is currently an Assistant Lecturer in the Faculty of Nursing and will be joining the Faculty of Nursing as an assistant professor in January 2024.

Event Schedule

Share your experiences

Sharing our lived experiences with moral distress is an important way for us to build understanding and learn from each other. Share your experiences or submit questions for the speaker anonymously.