"COVID-19 and the New Hidden Curriculum of Moral Injury and Compassion Fatigue".

Abstract

Medical students are educated through two dichotomous curriculums, the formal, planned curriculum and the hidden curriculum unintentionally taught through socialization within the culture of medicine. As a consequence of shared trauma amongst the physician workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic, moral injury (MoI) and compassion fatigue (CoF) have become prevalent within the health care system, including palliative care medicine, with echoing ramifications on the observing trainee population. Thus, it is imperative to determine risk factors, protective factors and targeted interventions to offset MoI and CoF within the health care workforce and trainee population. Methods of strengthening personal and institutional resilience are vital to developing long-term structural change replacing the hidden curriculum of MoI and CoF with one of resilience and support. As palliative care providers are especially vulnerable to MoI and CoF, this article will examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on MoI, CoF, and resilience within the hidden curriculum through the lens of palliative care.