Moral Injury: The Unseen Struggle of Healthcare Professionals
It's Making them Miserable.
I precociously proclaimed that I wanted to be a doctor while I was in high school.
I volunteered as a candy striper. I went to a fine university and medical school. Pennies were pinched to make tuition payments. I gave up the trips to the beach and the family vacations. Along the way, I learned the classic methods of conducting a history and physical exam. I bought the fancy stethoscope. I learned to poke, prod, start the IV lines, and insert all the tubes.
I completed four years of post-graduate training in emergency medicine, which included hundreds of sleepless nights on call. I finally landed my first job as an emergency medicine attending physician in a large community hospital in Virginia.
Why on earth was I so miserable in the profession I had struggled and worked so hard to obtain?
I wish I had an easy answer to that question.
I do have a few thoughts. I knew that I was not the only one. Many doctors and nurses are struggling, and the problem has gotten worse over the last decade. The American Medical Association surveyed 20,000 physicians in 2021 and found that one in five was…
