Resilience as an Incomplete Strategy for Coping With Moral Distress in Critical Care Nurses

Moral distress is receiving increasing attention in health care. The theoretical value of resilience as a strategy for coping with moral distress is prominent in the literature.

The potential negative consequences of moral distress for nurses are indisputable, driving a push to identify interventions to help nurses deal with the experience. The evidence that resilience is an important quality and skill for maintaining wellness is equally clear.

To review moral distress and resilience and examine the evidence for the new focus on resilience.

The complexity of both moral distress and resilience suggests that resilience by itself is an incomplete strategy for coping with and addressing moral distress.