The Role of Moral Distress in Radiology

Moral Distress was described in 1984 as a psychological response when one knows the right thing to do for the patient, but institutional constraints make it impossible to pursue that action. Recent studies have attributed moral distress as an underlying major cause of burnout. Moral distress led to 18% of the responders to leave their clinical position and another 28 that thought about leaving. The COVID-19 pandemic influenced levels of moral distress,. Most notably associated with high moral distress during the height of the pandemic.