Moral Distress of Anesthesia and Intensive Care Nurses in Latvia

Moral distress is recognized as a serious problem not only among healthcare providers, but also in the healthcare system in general. It is considered that moral distress in health care is defined as a phenomenon in which nurses know how to proceed ethically in certain situations but are constrained from acting. There are currently no studies conducted on moral distress among anesthesia and intensive care nurses in Latvia, but the moral distress scale has been adapted since beginning the research. Additionally, there have been no studies conducted in Latvia to analyze the correlations between the level of moral distress and burnout syndrome. The results of the conducted research confirmed H0 (null hypothesis), which suggests that there is no association between moral distress and burnout rates in nursing practitioners in anesthesiology and intensive care. The results of the study and a review of the existing literature suggest that there is a statistically significant relationship between moral distress rates and the rates of emotional exhaustion, as well as the rates of depersonalization.