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Towards collective moral resilience: the potential of communities of practice during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond
  1. Janet Delgado1,2,
  2. Serena Siow3,
  3. Janet de Groot4,
  4. Brienne McLane5,
  5. Margot Hedlin6
  1. 1 NICU, University Hospital of the Canary Islands, La Laguna, La Laguna, Spain
  2. 2 University Institute of Women's Studies, University of La Laguna, La Laguna, Spain
  3. 3 Department of Family Medicine, University of Calgary Cumming School of Medicine, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
  4. 4 Department of Psychiatry, Oncology and Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary Cumming School of Medicine, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
  5. 5 Department of Psychiatry, University of Calgary Cumming School of Medicine, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
  6. 6 Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Janet Delgado, NICU, University Hospital of the Canary Islands, La Laguna, La Laguna, Spain; jdelgadr{at}ull.edu.es

Abstract

This paper proposes communities of practice (CoP) as a process to build moral resilience in healthcare settings. We introduce the starting point of moral distress that arises from ethical challenges when actions of the healthcare professional are constrained. We examine how situations such as the current COVID-19 pandemic can exponentially increase moral distress in healthcare professionals. Then, we explore how moral resilience can help cope with moral distress. We propose the term collective moral resilience to capture the shared capacity arising from mutual engagement and dialogue in group settings, towards responding to individual moral distress and towards building an ethical practice environment. Finally, we look at CoPs in healthcare and explore how these group experiences can be used to build collective moral resilience.

  • ethics
  • applied and professional ethics
  • clinical ethics
  • education for health care professionals

This article is made freely available for use in accordance with BMJ’s website terms and conditions for the duration of the covid-19 pandemic or until otherwise determined by BMJ. You may use, download and print the article for any lawful, non-commercial purpose (including text and data mining) provided that all copyright notices and trade marks are retained.

https://bmj.com/coronavirus/usage

https://doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2020-106764

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors JD, SS, JdG and BM contributed to design the main ideas on this research through discussions and meetings, identifying the main aspects of the study. JD wrote the first draft of the manuscript. JD, SS and JdG reviewed and interpreted the relevant literature. All the coauthors critically reviewed the article, and contributed in the writing and editing process, as well as the review. All the authors have approved the final manuscript.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

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