Moral and mental health challenges faced by maternity staff during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Antje HorschJoan LalorSoo DownePublished in: Psychological trauma : theory, research, practice and policy (2020)
The current COVID-19 pandemic places maternity staff at risk of engaging in clinical practice that may be in direct contravention with evidence; professional recommendations; or, more profoundly, deeply held ethical or moral beliefs and values, as services attempt to control the risk of cross-infection. Practice changes in some settings include reduction in personal contacts for tests, treatments and antenatal and postnatal care, exclusion of birth partners for labor and birth, separation of mother and baby in the immediate postnatal period, restrictions on breastfeeding, and reduced capacity for hands-on professional labor support through social distancing and use of personal protective equipment. These enforced changes may result in increasing levels of occupational moral injury that need to be addressed at both an organizational and a personal level. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
Keyphrases
- mental health
- healthcare
- clinical practice
- preterm infants
- decision making
- primary care
- gestational age
- pregnant women
- quality improvement
- palliative care
- long term care
- preterm birth
- liquid chromatography
- emergency department
- pregnancy outcomes
- affordable care act
- mass spectrometry
- pain management
- human immunodeficiency virus
- adverse drug