333 Prevalence of Moral Injury and its Clinical Consequences Among Filipino Emergency Physicians During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

BackgroundMoral Injury is defined as the distress experienced by an individual when circumstances are discordant with one’s ethical code. If left unaddressed, it can become a risk factor for a range of mental health issues. The COVID-19 pandemic has recently been regarded as a cause of moral injury for Filipino health care workers but to date, has not been formally investigated.Study ObjectivesWe aimed to determine the prevalence of moral injury, identify risk factors and clinical consequences on mental health among Filipino emergency physicians who worked during the COVID-19 pandemic.Method: Our cross-sectional study utilized a nationwide survey of Emergency Medicine Residents and Consultants from accredited training programs in the Philippines. The online questionnaire comprised of 4 validated tools for mental health evaluation: Moral Injury Symptom Scale-Health Professionals, Belief Into Action Scale, Abbreviated Maslach Burnout Inventory and Kessler Psychological Distress Scale. The survey was conducted from August to October 2021.ResultsA total of 129 emergency physicians responded to the survey, which revealed high prevalence of moral injury at 96.9%. Concurrent with this, respondents were found to suffer from burnout causing emotional exhaustion (p=0.007) and depersonalization (p=0.044) as well as anxiety and depression (p=0.002). Females and those that do not have any children were more likely to experience moral injury.ConclusionThere is high prevalence of moral injury among Filipino emergency physicians during the period of study, which coincided with the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. Moral injury was also associated with the co-occurrence of burnout, anxiety and depression.No, authors do not have interests to disclose BackgroundMoral Injury is defined as the distress experienced by an individual when circumstances are discordant with one’s ethical code. If left unaddressed, it can become a risk factor for a range of mental health issues. The COVID-19 pandemic has recently been regarded as a cause of moral injury for Filipino health care workers but to date, has not been formally investigated. Moral Injury is defined as the distress experienced by an individual when circumstances are discordant with one’s ethical code. If left unaddressed, it can become a risk factor for a range of mental health issues. The COVID-19 pandemic has recently been regarded as a cause of moral injury for Filipino health care workers but to date, has not been formally investigated. Study ObjectivesWe aimed to determine the prevalence of moral injury, identify risk factors and clinical consequences on mental health among Filipino emergency physicians who worked during the COVID-19 pandemic.Method: Our cross-sectional study utilized a nationwide survey of Emergency Medicine Residents and Consultants from accredited training programs in the Philippines. The online questionnaire comprised of 4 validated tools for mental health evaluation: Moral Injury Symptom Scale-Health Professionals, Belief Into Action Scale, Abbreviated Maslach Burnout Inventory and Kessler Psychological Distress Scale. The survey was conducted from August to October 2021. We aimed to determine the prevalence of moral injury, identify risk factors and clinical consequences on mental health among Filipino emergency physicians who worked during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: Our cross-sectional study utilized a nationwide survey of Emergency Medicine Residents and Consultants from accredited training programs in the Philippines. The online questionnaire comprised of 4 validated tools for mental health evaluation: Moral Injury Symptom Scale-Health Professionals, Belief Into Action Scale, Abbreviated Maslach Burnout Inventory and Kessler Psychological Distress Scale. The survey was conducted from August to October 2021. ResultsA total of 129 emergency physicians responded to the survey, which revealed high prevalence of moral injury at 96.9%. Concurrent with this, respondents were found to suffer from burnout causing emotional exhaustion (p=0.007) and depersonalization (p=0.044) as well as anxiety and depression (p=0.002). Females and those that do not have any children were more likely to experience moral injury. A total of 129 emergency physicians responded to the survey, which revealed high prevalence of moral injury at 96.9%. Concurrent with this, respondents were found to suffer from burnout causing emotional exhaustion (p=0.007) and depersonalization (p=0.044) as well as anxiety and depression (p=0.002). Females and those that do not have any children were more likely to experience moral injury. ConclusionThere is high prevalence of moral injury among Filipino emergency physicians during the period of study, which coincided with the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. Moral injury was also associated with the co-occurrence of burnout, anxiety and depression.No, authors do not have interests to disclose There is high prevalence of moral injury among Filipino emergency physicians during the period of study, which coincided with the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. Moral injury was also associated with the co-occurrence of burnout, anxiety and depression.