Application of Theory to Practice

This document discusses the application of theory to practice through a case study on moral distress. It explores the concept of moral distress in the context of nursing, social work, and teaching. The case study highlights the challenges faced by individuals in advocating for better treatment and care.

Running head: APPLICATION OF THEORY TO PRACTICE
APPLICTION OF THEORY TO PRCATICE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Literature Review............................................................................................................................3
Application of the concept to practice.............................................................................................4
Reference.........................................................................................................................................6

2APPLICATION OF THERY TO PRACTICE
Introduction
I have selected and working with the video on Sue Sheridan on patient and family. The video is
about a woman, Sue Sheridan who has lost her husband and also her son is also disease person.
Both of the cases has happened because of the negligence of the hospital management. Through
the entire video she has described how her son child suffered because of the negligence the
doctors and the hospital management and has also described about the inability of the doctors in
identifying the malignancy of tumour of her husband which led to the death of her husband. The
concepts that can be identified from this case are caring, moral distress and healing (Hunsaker et
al., 2015). She is a very caring mother as well as wife. She noticed each and every symptoms of
jaundice and as a mother she did as far as she could. She informed the doctors about this, but the
doctors neglected this. Her husband’s treatment was also misguided by the doctors. The concept
of morally distress is also depicted from this. She guessed that her child may be suffering from
jaundice but no bilirubin test was done. After some days bilirubin test was done and it was found
to be very high. Not only this, he was diagnosed with many other diseases. In case of her
husband, the doctors identified that he had malignant tumour after the operation was done. At
present she is healing herself by asking other common people to become alert regarding the
management of the hospital.
In the given case scenario, the most applicable concept is the concept of moral distress.
This concept is the foundational concept of this case because Mrs. Sheridan inspite of becoming
aware of the diseases of her beloved ones, could not do anything because of the negligence of the
hospital management.

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Literature Review
Moral distress can be defined as the condition in which a person knows what is the right
thing to do, but different constrains in the institution make it impossible to take proper actions.
Different issues in the healthcare sector led the nurses to suffer from moral distress. The way the
nursing students are taught and the real world of nursing are very different. Also at the time of
the workplace, the nurses have to obey what the doctors are saying them to do, they always have
to do what the doctors are saying, knowing that the wrong thing is happening with the patient
(Borhani et al., 2017). Two other disciplines where moral distress occur are among the social
workers and in teaching profession. In one of the article of moral distress on nursing, where two
causes of moral distress are described. Moral constraint and the difference drawn between moral
conflict and moral distress. It was conclude that moral constraint is not a necessary cause of the
moral distress and moral conflict must be considered as the potential cause of the moral distress
(Fourie, 2015). In another case in order to understand better the moral distress, six different
types of distress that do not fall under the definition of moral distress were presented and this
was also told that why they should be recognised as moral distress. Then a new and advanced
definition of the moral distress was provided (Campbell, Ulrich & Grady, 2016).
The social workers also suffer a lot from the moral distress. The workers are unable to
complete their profession completely in accordance with the moral code and also the emotional
stress increased because of this inability. In the article electronic questionnaire was done from
the employees and it was found that the workers were not at all willing to continue their work
and they are ready for taking sick leaves. The positive experiences regarding work are less
among them than other colleagues (Mänttäri‐van der Kuip, 2016). In teaching profession also
the teachers face some moral distress regarding the activities of students and also in the

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management of the institution. In an article how moral stress can happen because of the conflicts
of the conscience of every one. The methods used for doing this study is an incident technique
which had focussed in the dilemmas in teaching (Colnerud, 2015).
The definition of moral distress is same for all cases but its applicability is
different. It is seen that the social workers and the teachers all are unable to take actions against
the higher authorities though they wants to take legal actions against them. Each of the
disciplines use the topic of moral distress in the same way only, no comparison can be made in
the way they are using moral distress (Barlem, & Ramos, 2015). In none of the disciplines, the
nurses, the social workers and the teachers can raise their voice against the management of the
institutions however, the teachers had the right to take actions if they find some moral distress is
occurring by the students (Giske & Cone, 2015).
Application of the concept to practice
The concept of moral distress from nursing, social worker and the teachers are related to
video that I have analysed. In the given case, Mrs. Sheridan had faced the same problem, she
could not raise her voice or dictate anything to the hospital authority for better treatment of her
child and husband. In the case of her child, the doctors knew that child is showing the symptoms
of jaundice but no bilirubin test was done. Mrs. Sheridan told the doctors many times about the
symptoms but no one bothered. Finally the test was done and the bilirubin amount was very high.
Not only this, the child was suffering from many other diseases. In case of her husband, the
diagnoses went wrong, the malignant tumour was diagnosed as benign tumour. Even the
operation was completed and the cancer spread throughout the body. Her husband even
undergone chemotherapy but after a few months he died. Mrs. Sheridan was able to take action

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against all these and could not save her husband. Her child had to suffer throughout her life from
the diseases he acquired because of the negligence of the treatment at that time.

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Reference
Barlem, E. L. D., & Ramos, F. R. S. (2015). Constructing a theoretical model of moral
distress. Nursing Ethics, 22(5), 608-615. doi.org/10.1177%2F0969733014551595
Borhani, F., Abbaszadeh, A., Mohamadi, E., Ghasemi, E., & Hoseinabad-Farahani, M. J. (2017).
Moral sensitivity and moral distress in Iranian critical care nurses. Nursing ethics, 24(4),
474-482. doi.org/10.1177%2F0969733015604700
Campbell, S. M., Ulrich, C. M., & Grady, C. (2016). A broader understanding of moral
distress. The American Journal of Bioethics, 16(12), 2-9.
doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2016.1239782
Colnerud, G. (2015). Moral stress in teaching practice. Teachers and Teaching, 21(3), 346-360.
doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2014.953820
Fourie, C. (2015). Moral distress and moral conflict in clinical ethics. Bioethics, 29(2), 91-97.
doi.org/10.1111/bioe.12064
Giske, T., & Cone, P. H. (2015). Discerning the healing path–how nurses assist patient
spirituality in diverse health care settings. Journal of clinical nursing, 24(19-20), 2926-
2935. doi.org/10.1111/jocn.12907
Hunsaker, S., Chen, H. C., Maughan, D., & Heaston, S. (2015). Factors that influence the
development of compassion fatigue, burnout, and compassion satisfaction in emergency
department nurses. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 47(2), 186-194.
doi.org/10.1111/jnu.12122

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Mänttäri‐van der Kuip, M. (2016). Moral distress among social workers: The role of insufficient
resources. International Journal of Social Welfare, 25(1), 86-97.
doi.org/10.1111/ijsw.12163