Gerri Lamb, PhD, RN, FAAN, Professor and Director of the Center of Advancing Interprofessional Practice, Education & Research (CAIPER), Arizona State University

This activity is designed for all members of primary care teams including physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists, social workers, behavioral health providers, care coordinators, navigators, front office team members, medical assistants, community workers, and others.

Primary care teams experience significant stress when they are not able to provide the care to patients as they believe they should. Moral distress, knowing the right thing to do but not being able to do it, contributes to burnout, now estimated to affect between one-third to one-half of physicians and nurses in the U.S. Members of primary care teams are in the best position to recognize early signs and symptoms of moral distress in each other and take effective action to prevent and/or reduce its impacts which can be considerable. It is essential that all team members understand the clinical situations that may trigger moral distress, are able to initiate conversations about it and are prepared to step in and offer support.

At the conclusion of this activity, learners should be able to:

• Describe the common signs and symptoms associated with moral distress and moral injury
• Identify clinical situations that can trigger moral distress and moral injury in primary care practices
• List five strategies members of primary care teams can use to prevent and ameliorate moral distress and moral injury in team members