GSA Section Podcast: Moral Distress in Long-Term Care Employees

Amid persistently inadequate numbers of direct care workers for resident care, long-term care administrators and staff members continue in their attempts to provide care for residents. The staffing crisis has led to regulatory issues, new sanctions from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and benchmarks for quality of care while facilities care for frail and dependent residents in the best ways possible given the circumstances. Moreover, the staffing crisis has resulted in the experience of moral distress for many direct health care workers. Moral distress occurs when health care professionals cannot act on their own moral judgment or what they believe to be right in a particular situation because of institutional or internal constraints. This podcast episode will feature the work and insights of GSA members Ozcan Tunalilar, PhD, and Beth Galik, PhD, CRNP, FAAN, FAANP. Dr. Tunalilar’s research examines the role of organizational, contextual, and socioeconomic factors that contribute to the reproduction of inequalities in access to high-quality long-term care and in residents’ experiences in the long-term care system. Dr. Galik’s research has focused on care for residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities, functional and cognitive assessment, and enhancement of the geriatric workforce.

Guests: Ozcan Tunalilar, PhD, Assistant Professor, Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning, Institute on Aging, Portland State University; and Elizabeth Galik, PhD, CRNP, FAAN, FAANP, Professor and Chair, Organizational Systems and Adult Health, University of Maryland School of Nursing.

Host: Debra Dobbs, PhD, Associate Professor, College of Behavioral and Community Sciences, School of Aging Studies, and Academic Director, Center for Hospice, Palliative Care, and End-of-Life Studies, University of South Florida.

This podcast episode is supported by the GSA Innovation Fund.