Moral distress and relationship between Physician and nurses

Phenomenon of moral distress in critical care environments, have different effects on the quality of care and good communication between members of caring team, especially Physician and nurses could to be effective in prevention of moral distress in nurses through creating desirable ethical atmosphere. This study aimed to determine the relationship between moral distresses with the Physician-nurses relationship in ICUs of the South Khorasan province.
215 nurses were recruited to the study by convenience method. Corly moral distress questionnaire and Shortell questionnaire of communication assessment between physician and nurses in ICUs were used for data collection. Data were analyzed by SPSS 16 software and using descriptive and inferential statistics.
Ethical Considerations: Participants verbal consent was obtained and anonymously and confidentiality of the completing questionnaires was assured to them.
Findings: The mean scores of moral distress severity, moral distress frequency and Physician-nurses relationship were 3±0/59, 3/66±0/5 and 3/2±1/1, respectively. There was significant direct correlation between mean score of communication between physician and nurses with moral distress frequency (r=-0/34, P regarding undeniable role of good communication between physician and nurses in reducing the frequency of moral distress, it is necessary to determine the effective factors on this relationship and also provide strategies to promote desirable ethical atmosphere, in order to diminish of this phenomenon.