something else was at play," she says. Moral injury was coined.
"For healthcare providers, moral injury isn't about a combat situa-
tion," says Dr. Dean. "It's about the moral tension between what we've
vowed to do — take care of patients — and the reality of what we can
do within the constraints of the current healthcare system. It's the
constant fight against double binds, where no matter what you do,
you can't win. It's not your fault. It's the result of working in a system
that's in crisis. We need to get back to making sure our patient is truly
the priority, and to recognizing the value of the provider at each stage
of the patient's care."
At OR Excellence, Dr. Dean will discuss the moral injury phenome-
non and elaborate on 3 key aspects of moral injury:
• How to identify the situations that cause moral injury.
• The importance of protecting the provider-patient relationship.
• Recreating a strong provider community in health care.
Moral injury and burnout can seem similar on first glance, but there
are important distinctions. Burnout is often assumed to result from an
individual's insufficient coping skills. Moral injury, on the other hand,
is a systems problem, resulting from multiple competing allegiances.
"Providers may have some of the symptoms of 'burnout' — deperson-
alization, a low sense of accomplishment or disengagement," says Dr.
Dean. "They're told they need to take better care of themselves, do yoga,
participate in wellness programs, but what they really need are fewer sit-
uations in which their ability to care for patients is frustrated by the
business framework of health care."
OSM
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