Week One Discussion: Stress and Other Challenges of the Caregiver

Complete the learning activities in week one.  Then create a typed or video discussion board post (click on insert stuff icon above and click Video Note to create a video) answering the following questions:  

1. Share with the group, who you are, and what program you are doing.  
2.  What is moral injury? Describe a possible professional work situation in which an individual's moral distress could be seen as a moral injury. 
3. What is self-stewardship and something you took away from the reading? 

Hello Class,
My name is Jane Doe, originally from Wichita, Kansas. I am a wife and mother of two, living in Mankato. I am in the final stages of my Bachelor of Nursing (BSN) degree, and completing social work is one of the requirements to graduate. According to Norman et al. (2024), moral injury is the long-term emotional, cognitive, behavioral, social, and/or spiritual consequence of exposure to a potentially morally injurious event. It is experienced when an individual’s actions or the actions witnessed violate their deeply held ethical or moral beliefs. A possible professional work situation in which an individual’s moral distress could be seen as a moral injury is where a nurse in an understaffed intensive care unit (ICU) is forced to prioritize care among critically ill patients. This is something that healthcare providers struggled with during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. There were so many people who needed attention yet there were limited resources, and it forced providers to make difficult ethical decisions on who to prioritize. In Italy, it was so serious that elderly people were occasionally denied care. The nurse may experience distress over neglecting a patient’s emotional needs or failure to provide the level of care they believe every patient deserves. The internal conflict may result in long-term emotional distress.

Self-stewardship is the practice of taking deliberate responsibility for one’s well-being – physically, emotionally, and professionally – to sustain the ability to care for others effectively. It emphasizes the need for self-awareness, setting boundaries, maintaining personal integrity, and preventing burnout. This was especially relevant during the pandemic (Rushton, 2024). A takeaway from the reading is the importance of self-compassion as a foundation for self-stewardship. It is by acknowledging our personal limitations, seeking support, and giving ourselves a chance to recover from stress that we can remain effective and resilient in our demanding work environments.

References

Norman, S. B., Griffin, B. J., Pietrzak, R. H., McLean, C., Hamblen, J. L., & Maguen, S. (2024). The moral injury and distress scale: Psychometric evaluation and initial validation in three high-risk populations. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 16(2), 280-291. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0001533

Rushton, C. H. (2024). Self-stewardship: An ethical imperative for nurses. AACN Advanced Critical Care, 35(2), 193-198. https://doi.org/10.4037/aacnacc2024727