Palliative medicine
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Palliative medicine · Jun 2022
Moral distress amongst palliative care doctors working during the COVID-19 pandemic: A narrative-focussed interview study.
Palliative care professionals have had to adapt to rapidly changing COVID-19 restrictions with personal protective equipment and physical distancing measures impacting face-to-face communication with patients and relatives. ⋯ Restrictions had a considerable impact on palliative care doctors' ability to communicate with and comfort patients which led to moral distress and contributed to decreasing morale. Future research could explore moral distress in palliative care settings internationally during the pandemic with a view to compare the factors affecting how moral distress was experienced.