AACN advanced critical care
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The first wave of coronavirus disease 2019 was a global event for which nurses had limited time to prepare before receiving an influx of high-acuity patients and navigating new plans of care. ⋯ Understanding the lived experience provides a unique lens through which to view nursing during a global pandemic, and it serves as a starting point to ensure future safeguards are in place to protect nurses' well-being.
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Burnout incurs significant costs to health care organizations and professionals. Mattering, moral distress, and secondary traumatic stress are personal experiences linked to burnout and are byproducts of the organizations in which we work. This article conceptualizes health care organizations as moral communities-groups of people united by a common moral purpose to promote the well-being of others. ⋯ Well-functioning moral communities have strong support systems, inclusivity, fairness, open communication, and collaboration and are able to protect their members. In this article, we address mattering, moral distress, and secondary traumatic stress as they relate to burnout. We conclude that leaders of moral communities are responsible for implementing systemic changes that foster mattering among its members and attend to the problems that cause moral distress and burnout.