Abstract
Background: Moral injury among critical care health care workers is a perilous issue as it affects the emotional and psychological health of the providers.
Problem: The problem encountered is a high rate of moral injury at the project site that results from increased morbidity and mortality rates of patients with chronic complex illnesses.
Methods: A quality improvement project guided by the Knowledge to Action framework will be conducted for ten weeks. The population in the project are critical care health care providers. The Moral Injury Symptoms Scale-Health Professional questionnaire will be issued before and after the project to screen the participants for moral injury through electronic emails. A paired sample t test will be performed at a .05 significance level.
Intervention: The intervention that will be implemented is the Schwartz Rounds to help reduce moral injury among critical care health care providers.
Results: Fifteen articles were eligible, 53.33% were quantitative, 26.67% were qualitative, and 20% were mixed method studies. The themes developed from the articles include (a) causative factors and symptoms of moral injury, (b) the impact of Schwartz Rounds, (c) the impact of Schwartz Rounds on healthcare work environments, and (d) the effects of the Schwartz Rounds on patient care. The findings from the articles revealed that Schwartz Rounds effectively reduced moral injury among healthcare professionals by improving communication, compassion, empathy, and care among co-workers and enhancing patient care.
Conclusion: Implementing evidence-based practice guidelines involve evaluating the nursing resources, formulating goals based on patient-centered outcomes, and using valid/relevant findings. Implementing Schwartz Rounds would involve identifying resources such as nurses’ experience-based knowledge, formulating plans, and using valid findings to support the change in practice.
Keywords: Moral injury, Schwartz Rounds, critical care, Knowledge to Action