Senior Research Coordinator/Simulation Educator Johns Hopkins Hospital Berwyn Heights, MD
Providing care for children with critical heart disease is simultaneously rewarding, challenging, and distressing. Pediatric CICU clinicians (nurses, respiratory therapists, social workers, dieticians, pharmacists, physicians, trainees) are at risk for recurrent moral distress and burnout. Feelings of moral distress may be particularly poignant when aggressive interventions are attempted for a dying child and the balance of hope and harm are unclear. Pediatric CICUs can benefit from a proactive multidisciplinary program targeted at building a culture of moral resilience to support teams to thrive in this challenging environment.
