Listening to the Voices of Health Care Workers During the Covid-19 Pandemic
A Qualitative Study Providing In-Depth Insights Into Ethical and Individual Challenges
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4612763 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Barbara Buchberger (0000-0002-8596-740X, Robert Koch Institute), Heide Weishaar (0000-0003-1150-0265, Robert Koch Institute), Megan Evans (0000-0002-1671-2665, Robert Koch Institute), Rike Böttcher (0009-0000-6958-9552, Robert Koch Institute), René Umlauf (Robert Koch Institute), Swetlana Muminow (Robert Koch Institute), Eloisa Montt Maray (Robert Koch Institute), Nadine Muller (0000-0001-8047-7180, Robert Koch Institute), Souaad Chemali (Robert Koch Institute), Brogan Geurts (0000-0001-6709-9517, Robert Koch Institute), Hanna-Tina Fischer (0000-0002-4609-1556, Robert Koch Institute), Charbel El Bcheraoui (0000-0003-3117-9966, Robert Koch Institute, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue | 11 |
| Pages | 1029-1038 |
| Publication date | 2024-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Qualitative Health Research (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1049-7323 • E-ISSN: 1552-7557 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/10497323241231521 |
| PMID | 38406882 |
| OpenAlex | W4392163675 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 19 |
In their daily practice, health care workers (HCWs) experience the effects of tensions between professional ethos and work realities, which can lead to ethical dilemmas. We aim to explore the ethical dilemmas that affected HCWs in Germany during the COVID-19 pandemic and to understand these in the context of the German health system. Between April and December 2022, we interviewed HCWs from various levels of care and key informants responsible for decisions related to HCWs in Germany. Three themes were identified in the data analyzed from 78 participants. The first highlighted the potency of pre-existing health system problems during the COVID-19 pandemic. The second captured the ethical dilemmas that were described as having arisen due to the tension between professional ethos and structural constraints. The third included factors related to increasing or diminishing the implications of ethical dilemmas. A lack of opportunities for HCWs to participate in political and managerial decisions was suggested to result in policies that do not meet the needs of HCWs and patients. Positive interpersonal interactions were described as helpful when coping with dilemmatic decision-making situations. In order to avoid negative consequences caused by unresolved ethical dilemmas, including moral distress, among HCWs, staff shortages and decision-making in the German health system urgently need to be addressed. HCWs' working conditions regularly evoke ethical dilemmas, particularly during public health emergencies. Together with HCWs, decision-makers must develop new models for working in health care settings that are in line with HCWs' professional ethos
2019-20 coronavirus outbreak · Active listening · Health care · Pandemic · Political science · Qualitative research · Social science · Sociology · Communication · Disaster Response and Management · Ethics in medical practice · Medicine · Patient Dignity and Privacy · Psychology · Virology
Moral Distress, Moral Residue, and the Crescendo Effect
Implications for Covid-19
Conceptual and design thinking for thematic analysis
Who Is Experiencing What Kind of Moral Distress? Distinctions for Moving from a Narrow to a Broad Definition of Moral Distress
Health Care Employee Perceptions of Patient-Centered Care
County Jail or Psychiatric Hospital? Ethical Challenges in Correctional Mental Health Care
Moral distress in medicine
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2025 (2) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |