Health care workers speak on moral distress during pandemic

Photo courtesy of Ashkan Forouzani. // A panel of healthcare workers were invited to speak to Hofstra students and faculty about the moral distress brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the Presidential Inauguration Week Symposia, there was a panel discussion dedicated to “An Ethical Approach to Moral Distress During COVID-19” on Thursday, Sept. 30, in the Guthart Cultural Center Theater. 

Renee McLeod-Sordjan, professor of nursing and chair of graduate nursing program, Mary Lemp, assistant professor of nursing and Walter L. Markowitz, assistant professor of health professions, organized the event for students and faculty. 

At the beginning of the panel, speakers shared their personal experiences when living through the COVID-19 pandemic as health care workers. 

“I was involved in a critical care unit that was converted into a COVID unit,” said Dr. Jerome Weiner, a critical care physician and clinical assistant professor. “We had 20 patients and all of them were sedated, paralyzed and had no family by their side. It was truly frightening and hellish.”

As the health care workers look back on the pandemic, there is no forgetting the fear of scarce resources.

“When I was reviewing for today, I realized that I didn’t have to write anything down because it is just what the reality was,” said nurse practitioner Elyse Isopo. “I could look at a patient and say they cannot get off the ventilator, but to tell the patient that they would not get a ventilator was a totally different experience.”

Not only did resources continue to decrease, but acquiring assistance throughout the hospital was also difficult. 

“I spent a few nights covering in the hospital,” Weiner said. “You could hear the loudspeaker go off every 20 minutes calling for assistance, something that never happened in an institution before, while all the patients continued to deteriorate.” 

Alec Sheridan, a freshman physical education major, attended the panel and was touched by their experiences. 

“The thought of making that decision of who would get possible life-saving care over another person must have had a huge mental impact on them,” Sheridan said. 

Students found value in hearing the healthcare workers’ experiences to better prepare for the future.

“I think it is important how we handled the pandemic as a whole because it’s possible that we could face one in the future,” said Shalin Madan, a freshman BS/MD biology major. “If we look at these situations that happened during the pandemic, we can learn to be better prepared for the future.”

Lemp spoke from the perspective of the ethics panel rather than the perspective of being on the frontlines. 

“[The pandemic] was something that I have learned a lot from personally. I have learned a lot about the resilience of our students, colleagues and our patients and their families,” she said. “With the support and with collegiality, and to know that you are valued and respected and loved, I think people can get through almost anything.”

President Susan Poser asked a question to the panel about how healthcare workers will practice general care once the COVID-19 pandemic is finally over. 

“I think we learned humanity and resilience lives not in the machines to keep humans alive but the people who help to keep them here,” said McLeod-Sordjan. “I hope that we learned that the people are more important than the technology.”

 Lemp also touched on the positive outcomes that COVID-19 brought to the healthcare community.

“I think one thing that has revolutionized us is the advent of telehealth,” she said. “They could be doing a visit from their home and be able to give good advice and it would really make a difference in the turning point for that particular patient.”

Students were inspired by the ethics panel’s positive discussion of the pandemic, despite the hardships that the world has faced. 

“They were able to find the silver lining in a stressful situation,” said Varun Sridhar, a freshman BS/MD biology major. “That showed me that there are different ways to positively look at this crisis.”