Ahlaki sıkıntı: Türkiye’de sağlık alanında gündeme gelmeyen bir boyut

Moral distress is a common problem among professionals and managers working in the field of health care. Moral distress is the distress experienced by a professional when he/she cannot fulfill the correct action due to several obstacles although he/she is aware of what it is. Moral distress caused by several individual and institutional factors leads to important consequences among health professionals ranging from a sense of anger and frustration to a decrease in job satisfaction and burnout as a result of which they may leave the profession. Thus, health care professionals lose their interests in the patient and the patient’s family, and thus the quality of the treatment and care they provide decrease. This review article is intended to bring the issue of moral distress frequently experienced but not voiced by health care professionals onto the agenda in Turkish literature by analyzing the concept of moral distress, putting forward the causes of moral distress, discussing its reflections on individuals and institutions and drawing health care workers’ attention to the issue.

Özet

Ahlaki sıkıntı (moral distres) sağlık bakım alanlarında çalışan profesyoneller ve yöneticilerde yaygın olarak yaşanan bir problemdir. Ahlaki sıkıntı, bir profesyonelin yapılacak doğru eylemi bildiği halde engeller nedeniyle doğru eylemi gerçekleştirememesi durumunda yaşadığı bir sıkıntıdır. Bireysel ve kurumsal birçok durumun neden olduğu ahlaki sıkıntı, sağlık profesyonellerinde öfke ve engellenme duygusundan iş doyumunda azalmaya, tükenmişlik ve meslekten ayrılmaya kadar önemli sonuçlar doğurmaktadır. Böylelikle sağlık çalışanları hasta ve ailesinden uzaklaşmakta, tedavi ve bakım kalitesi de azalmaktadır. Bu makalede sağlık profesyonellerinin sıklıkla yaşadığı, ancak çok da dile getiremediği ahlaki sıkıntı kavramını analiz etmek, nedenlerini ortaya koymak, bireysel-kurumsal yansımalarını tartışmak ve sağlık çalışanlarının dikkatini çekerek Türk literatüründe bu konuyu gündeme getirmek amaçlanmıştır.

Anahtar sözcükler: Ahlaki sıkıntı, sağlık profesyonelleri, etik ikilem

 

Abstract

Moral distress is a common problem among professionals and managers working in the field of health care. Moral distress is the distress experienced by a professional when he/she cannot fulfill the correct action due to several obstacles although he/she is aware of what it is. Moral distress caused by several individual and institutional factors leads to important consequences among health professionals ranging from a sense of anger and frustration to a decrease in job satisfaction and burnout as a result of which they may leave the profession. Thus, health care professionals lose their interests in the patient and the patient’s family, and thus the quality of the treatment and care they provide decrease. This review article is intended to bring the issue of moral distress frequently experienced but not voiced by health care professionals onto the agenda in Turkish literature by analyzing the concept of moral distress, putting forward the causes of moral distress, discussing its reflections on individuals and institutions and drawing health care workers’ attention to the issue.

Keywords: Moral distress, health professionals, ethics dilemma