Masiviwe took part in the Global Public Health Week 3-7 April with a session on Moral Injury and Burnout as a Public Health Priority
In a webinar on 3 April, under the theme of the day – which was “Preparing Public Health professionals and Associations for the New Challenges” – Masiviwe’s Boitumelo Kgoebane hosted Dr Caroline Lee, National coordinator of Healthcare Workers Care Network.
Dr Lee explained that moral injury describes the challenge of simultaneously knowing what care patients need but being unable to provide it due to constraints that are beyond one’s control.
She said that there were levels of progression when it comes to the damage that these situations can cause:
- moral dilemma: when you are not sure what to do or which course of action to take,
- moral distress: when you know the right thing to do but you are not able to do it,
- moral injury: when you are subjected to repeated or prolonged inability to meet patients’ needs
- burnout: a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, loss of meaning in work and feelings of ineffectiveness, as well as emotional detachment, which can co – exist with moral injury but may also be the result of moral injury
To watch the whole webinar, go to our YouTube channel MasiviweZA. You can also take the burnout screening test on our website, www.masiviwe.org.za and find out more information on where to find mental health support. Or find us on social media @MasiviweZA