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Determining the Impact of Hurricane Dorian and the Covid-19 Pandemic on Moral Distress in Emergency Medical Providers at the Rand Memorial Hospital: Moral distress in emergency medical personnel

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2024

Latoya E. Storr Open the ORCID record for Latoya E. Storr [Opens in a new window] ,
Attila J. Hertelendy Open the ORCID record for Attila J. Hertelendy [Opens in a new window] ,
Alexander Hart Open the ORCID record for Alexander Hart [Opens in a new window] ,
Lenard Cheng Open the ORCID record for Lenard Cheng [Opens in a new window] ,
Fadi Issa Open the ORCID record for Fadi Issa [Opens in a new window] ,
Todd Benham Open the ORCID record for Todd Benham [Opens in a new window]  and
Gregory Ciottone Open the ORCID record for Gregory Ciottone [Opens in a new window]
Latoya E. Storr*
Affiliation:
BIDMC Disaster Medicine Fellowship, Department of Emergency Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Attila J. Hertelendy
Affiliation:
BIDMC Disaster Medicine Fellowship, Department of Emergency Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Department of Information Systems and Business Analytics, College of Business, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, USA
Alexander Hart
Affiliation:
BIDMC Disaster Medicine Fellowship, Department of Emergency Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Department of Emergency Medicine, Hartford Hospital, Hartford, Connecticut, USA University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, Connecticut, USA
Lenard Cheng
Affiliation:
BIDMC Disaster Medicine Fellowship, Department of Emergency Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Department of Emergency Medicine, National University Hospital, National University Health System, Singapore, Singapore
Fadi Issa
Affiliation:
BIDMC Disaster Medicine Fellowship, Department of Emergency Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Todd Benham
Affiliation:
BIDMC Disaster Medicine Fellowship, Department of Emergency Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Gregory Ciottone
Affiliation:
BIDMC Disaster Medicine Fellowship, Department of Emergency Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
*
Corresponding author: Latoya E. Storr; Email: lstorr@bidmc.harvard.edu.
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Abstract

Objectives:

The aim of this work was to determine the impact of Moral Distress (MD) in emergency physicians, nurses, and emergency medical service staff at the Rand Memorial Hospital (RMH) in the Bahamas, and the impact of Hurricane Dorian and the COVID-19 pandemic on Moral Distress.

Method:

A cross-sectional study utilizing a 3-part survey, which collected sociodemographic information, Hurricane Dorian and COVID-19 experiences, as well as responses to a validated modified Moral Distress Scale (MDS).

Results:

Participants with 2 negatively impactful experiences from COVID-19 had statistically significantly increased MD compared to participants with only 1 negatively impactful experience (40.4 vs. 23.6, P = 0.014). Losing a loved one due to COVID-19 was associated with significantly decreased MD (B = - 0.42, 95% CI -19.70 to -0.88, P = 0.03). Losing a loved one due to Hurricane Dorian had a non-statistically significant trend towards higher MD scores (B = 0.34, 95% CI -1.23 to 28.75, P = 0.07).

Conclusion:

The emergency medical staff at the RMH reported having mild - moderate MD. This is one of the first studies to look at the impact of concurrent disasters on MD in emergency medical providers in the Bahamas.

Keywords

moral distressCOVID-19Hurricane DorianThe BahamasAccident and Emergency
Type
Original Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 18 , 2024 , e42
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc

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