Moral distress is an umbrella concept that describes the psychological, emotional and physiological
suffering that may be experienced when we act in ways that are inconsistent with deeply held
ethical values, principles or moral commitments. The philosopher, Andrew Jameton [1, 2], first
coined the term, moral distress, in his book on nursing ethics, published in 1984 in order to
articulate what he saw to be the case among the nursing students that he was teaching; that the
nursing role is morally constrained in a significant way. Jameton’s original account of moral distress
focussed on the way in which institutional policies and practices can lead nurses to do things that
they believe to be morally wrong. Since then, various accounts of moral distress have been
developed along with a range of empirical tools to identify the sources of moral distress and to
measure and assess its impact on nurses as well as other health professionals.