Information on the research study Moral distress among executive physicians in the Swiss hospital setting - Status quo and perspectives for solutions

In acute somatic patient care, executive physicians (chief medical officers; medical directors; chief physicians; senior physicians) make many decisions in everyday hospital life. These decisions have an impact on the recovery of patients, on the implementation of care processes and on the business results of the hospital as a whole.
Executive physicians act in a complex field of tension in order to achieve a satisfactory balance between medical necessity, economic frameworks and ethical requirements. 
Based on the ethical primacy of patient benefit, ethically conflicting situations can arise for these decision-makers, which cannot be adequately resolved within the given scope of action. This can result in moral challenges. Among other things, such situations can lead to considerable workloads and health stress.
Within the framework of a research study, the Medicine & Economics Ethics Lab of the Institute of Biomedical Ethics and History of Medicine at the University of Zurich is investigating the moral distress phenomena among medical managers in Swiss hospitals (acute care). Based on the recorded situation, first solution perspectives will be introduced into the scientific discourse. The results of the study will be published.
The research study is financially supported by the SAMW Käthe-Zingg-Schwichtenberg-Fonds. The implementation of the online survey is supported organizationally by FMH, VLSS and VSAO, among others.
 

Thomas Kapitza PhD, Project Manager
Medicine & Economics Ethics Lab IBME
Institute for Biomedical Ethics and History of Medicine
Medical Faculty, University of Zurich
Winterthurerstrasse 30 
CH-8006 Zürich
Email