How Do Ethical Principles Address Moral Distress?

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How Do Ethical Principles Address Moral Distress? enduring module is a recording from the live Regularly Scheduled Series held on March 11, 2026. If you received credit for attending this session during the live meeting, please refrain from claiming credit for this module.

Healthcare professionals frequently encounter complex clinical situations in which ethical principles may be challenged or compromised. While clinicians are familiar with the four pillars of ethics—autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice—they may struggle to recognize when these principles are affected in real-time practice. Additionally, fidelity and veracity are critical to maintaining trust, professional integrity, and addressing moral distress, yet they are often underutilized in difficult clinical conversations. Focused education is needed to strengthen clinicians’ ability to identify ethical concerns and apply ethical principles as practical tools for patient and family advocacy, ultimately supporting ethical practice and reducing moral distress.

 

Target Audience

UK HealthCare Registered Nurses and Licensed Practical Nurses

Learning Objectives

After this session, participants will be able to:

  • Recognize examples of when the four pillars of ethics have been compromised
  • Identify ways of incorporating Fidelity and Veracity into situations that address moral distress
  • Utilize ethical principles as a resource for patient and family advocacy

 

Course summary

Available credit: 
  • 1.00 ANCC (UK Healthcare CECentral)

    In support of improving patient care, UK HealthCare CECentral is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), and the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

    The maximum number of hours awarded for this Continuing Nursing Education activity is 1.00 nursing contact hour(s).

Course opens: 
10/01/2026
Course expires: 
09/30/2029
Rating: 
0

Joey Elizabeth Burke, MSN, RN, HEC-C is a Nurse Ethicist at the University of Kentucky, where she provides clinical ethics consultation and education. A Hospital Ethics Consultation–Certified professional, she brings nearly two decades of experience as a registered nurse in acute care, specializing in pediatric populations and holding certifications in chemotherapy administration and Pediatric Advanced Life Support. Joey also has a background in mental health counseling and holds graduate degrees in nursing and creative writing. She has presented nationally on topics including moral distress and vaccine trust-building strategies.

Disclosure of Financial Interest Summary to Learners

All planners, faculty, and others in control of educational content are required to disclose all their financial relationships with ineligible companies within the prior 24 months.  An ineligible company is defined as one whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients. Financial relationships are relevant if the educational content an individual can control is related to the business lines or products of the ineligible company.

None of the planners, faculty, and others in control of educational content for this educational activity have relevant financial relationship(s) to disclose with ineligible companies.

The material presented in this course represents information obtained from the scientific literature as well as the clinical experiences of the speakers. In some cases, the presentations might include discussion of investigational agents and/or off-label indications for various agents used in clinical practice. Speakers will inform the audience when they are discussing investigational and/or off-label uses.

Disclosure of a relationship is not intended to suggest or condone commercial bias in any presentation, but it is made to provide participants with information that might be of potential importance to their evaluation of a presentation.

 

Accreditation

In support of improving patient care, University of Kentucky HealthCare CECentral is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

ANCC credit:

The maximum number of hours awarded for this Continuing Nursing Education activity is 1 nursing contact hour(s).

 

Available Credit

  • 1.00 ANCC (UK Healthcare CECentral)

    In support of improving patient care, UK HealthCare CECentral is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), and the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

    The maximum number of hours awarded for this Continuing Nursing Education activity is 1.00 nursing contact hour(s).

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