• Lisa A Wolf, Cydne Perhats, Altair M Delao, Michael D Moon, Paul R Clark, and Kathleen E Zavotsky.
• Des Plaines, IL; San Antonio, TX; Louisville, KY; New Brunswick, NJ. Electronic address: lwolf@ena.org.
• J Emerg Nurs. 2016 Jan 1; 42 (1): 37-46.

IntroductionMoral distress in nursing has been studied in many settings, but there is a paucity of research on moral distress as it manifests in the emergency department. One study suggests a correlation between moral distress and aspects of burnout, and other researchers report that nurses have considered leaving their position or even their profession because of moral distress. Further exploration of these issues may provide insight into their effects on ED patient care and the emergency nursing profession. The purpose of this study was to explore the nature of moral distress as it is experienced and described by emergency nurses.MethodsA qualitative, exploratory design was employed using semi-structured focus groups for data collection. Using an iterative process, transcripts were analyzed for emerging themes by the research team. Six researchers analyzed the transcripts using a thematic analysis approach.ResultsThemes from the data included dysfunctional practice arena, being overwhelmed, and adaptive/maladaptive coping. Participants described, overall, a profound feeling of not being able to provide patient care as they wanted to.DiscussionCauses of moral distress in emergency nurses are environment driven, not incident driven, as is described in other settings, and include a high-acuity, high-demand, technical environment with insufficient resources. Interventions should be targeted to improve environmental factors that contribute to the moral distress of emergency nurses. Future research should focus on the development and validation of an instrument to measure moral distress in this setting.Copyright © 2016 Emergency Nurses Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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