ArticleThe Journal of surgical research2022
Moral Distress Among Operating Room Personnel During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study.
Article in The Journal of surgical research, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 34 citations in OpenAlex.
- Ethics in the operating room: a systematic review.BMC medical ethics · 2024Pooled it
- Nurses' Experience of Redeployment to a New Intermediate Care Unit for Respiratory Patients: A Qualitative Study.Journal of advanced nursing · 2026Article
- Trying to create order in chaos-healthcare workers' perspective of COVID-19 intensive care (a qualitative study).BMJ open quality · 2025Article
- Putting Patients at Risk: The Effect of Health Care Provider Burnout on Patient Care in the Operating Room-A Narrative Review.Journal of patient safety · 2025Review
- Multi-professional perspectives to reduce moral distress: A qualitative investigation.Nursing ethics · 2024Article
- Health care workers' qualitative descriptions of ethically challenging situations evoking moral distress during Covid-19.Nursing ethics · 2024Article
- Nurses on shacking ground-A qualitative study of Danish dermatology and allergology nurses' experiences of relocation during the COVID-19 pandemic.Nursing open · 2024Article
- Inductive process of moral distress development in viewpoints from surgical nurses: a mixed-method study.BMC nursing · 2024Article
- Qualitative interview study of strategies to support healthcare personnel mental health through an occupational health lens.BMJ open · 2024Article
- Factors Affecting COVID-19-Related Fear and Burnout in Surgical Nurses.Irish journal of medical science · 2023Article
- The Experiences of Operating Room Nurses During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study.Journal of perianesthesia nursing : official journal of the American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses · 2023Article
- Workplace health in anesthesia team: A qualitative study in Iran.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Fear of making a mistake: a prominent cause of stress for COVID-19 ICU staff-a mixed-methods study.BMJ open quality · 2023Article
- Experiences of Acute Surgical Care During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic Among Patients and Their Next of Kin.The Journal of surgical research · 2022Article
- Moral and exhausting distress working in the frontline of COVID-19: a Swedish survey during the first wave in four healthcare settings.BMJ open · 2022Article
- Dealing with difficult choices: a qualitative study of experiences and consequences of moral challenges among disaster healthcare responders.Conflict and health · 2022Article
- Stress of conscience of COVID-19 among perianaesthesia nurses having worked in a COVID-ICU during the coronavirus pandemic: an international perspective.BMC nursing · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionThe ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated the reallocation of healthcare resources, and a minimization of elective activities. Healthcare personnel involved in COVID-19 care have been negatively affected by the associated excess stress. The existing COVID-19 research has focused on the experiences among healthcare personnel in general, and not particularly on the operating room team members, who have often been relocated to overburdened workplaces. Therefore, we aimed to explore the experiences in this particular group.
methodsThis study has a qualitative inductive design based on interviews with a strategic sample of 12 operating room team members: surgeons, anesthesiologist, specialist nurses, and nurse assistants. The interviews were analyzed using content analysis.
resultsThree themes were identified: "Feeling safe in the familiar and anxiety in the unknown", "To be the ones left behind", and "The possibility for recuperation in a seemingly everlasting situation". The participants described working hard, although their efforts were experienced as not enough according to their moral ideals. We interpreted this as feelings and signs of moral distress, a commonly described concept in previous studies during the COVID-19 pandemic, and a risk for burn out.
conclusionsThe operating room team members emphasized the negative stress of being in the unknown, performing work tasks in an unfamiliar place and situation, and experiencing conflicting feelings of relief and guilt. Organizational strategies toward a functional leadership and support should be emphasized. Such strategies might reduce the risk of psychological consequences such as burn out.
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