Moral injury and mental health in healthcare workers are linked to organizational culture and modifiable workplace conditions: Results of a national, mixed-methods study conducted at Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Abstract

Using mixed methods, we examined drivers of risk for moral injury, mental health symptoms, and burnout among frontline healthcare workers in high-risk Veterans Affairs (VA) clinical settings during the COVID-19 pandemic. Across 21 VA medical centers, 2,004 healthcare workers completed an online survey assessing potential risk factors for moral injury, posttraumatic stress, depression, and burnout. Assessed risk factors included: pandemic exposures; individual worker characteristics; aspects of workplace/organizational culture; and facility performance on standardized measures of care quality, patient satisfaction, and employee satisfaction (extracted from VA administrative data). Among surveyed workers, 39% were at risk for moral injury, 41% for posttraumatic stress, 27% for depression, and 25% for persistent burnout. In generalized linear mixed models, significant predictors of moral injury risk included perceived lack of management support for worker health/safety, supervisor support, coworker support, and empowerment to make job-related decisions-all modifiable workplace factors. Pandemic-related risk factors for moral injury included prolonged short-staffing, denying patient-family visits, and high work-family conflict. Predictors of posttraumatic stress, depression, and burnout were similar. Forty-six surveyed workers completed a follow-up qualitative interview about experiences of moral distress in the workplace, and interview themes aligned closely with survey findings. Rapid qualitative analysis identified protective factors that may reduce moral injury risk, including a collaborative workplace community, engaged leadership, empowerment to make changes in the workplace, and opportunity to process distressing events. We conclude with recommendations to mitigate moral injury risk in healthcare organizations. These include involving workers in discussions of high-stakes decisions that will affect them, creating consistent and clear channels of communication between the frontlines and leaders of the organization, practicing leadership rounding to improve leaders' understanding of the daily work of frontline teams, and collaborating to understand how existing processes and policies may contribute to safety risks and moral conflict.