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A. Kellish1, D. Stiskal2, A. Conventry1
1Franklin Pierce University, Physical Therapy, Manchester, United States, 2Seton Hall University, Physical Therapy, South Orange, United States
Background: Since, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic several studies have examined the impact on DPT students, however no studies have examined the impact on Physical Therapy faculty, specifically program directors and directors of clinical education. Prior to COVID-19, physical therapy educational programs were already struggling with the shortage of qualified faculty with several programs having one or more open faculty lines.1,This is especially true for the faculty line of Program Directors and Directors of Clinical Education, with numerous positions frequently posted.
Directors are serving competing and sometimes opposing responsibilities and demands, which impact their ability to provide leadership, mentorship and teaching necessary for delivering high quality physical therapy education didactic and clinical education programs and .2,3 These conflicts place directors in complex situations and at risk for moral distress and burnout, which leads to moral injury. Moral injury is an individual’s perception of failure to meet the needs of others in combination with the oath taken entering the field.4,5
Directors are serving competing and sometimes opposing responsibilities and demands, which impact their ability to provide leadership, mentorship and teaching necessary for delivering high quality physical therapy education didactic and clinical education programs and .2,3 These conflicts place directors in complex situations and at risk for moral distress and burnout, which leads to moral injury. Moral injury is an individual’s perception of failure to meet the needs of others in combination with the oath taken entering the field.4,5
Purpose: This descriptive correlational study utilized the framework of Corley Moral Distress and Maslach Burnout Inventory to examine the correlation between moral distress and burnout due to moral injury Post - COVID-19 as perceived by physical therapy program directors and the directors of clinical education within physical therapy programs.
Methods: After receiving IRB approval, participants were identified from CAPTE’s roster of DPT and PTA Programs listed on their website and were recruited via an email invitation. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire, Moral Distress Thermometer, a modified version of the Moral Distress Scale Revised-Occupational Therapist (MDS-R-OT[A], and the Maslach Burnout Inventory Educator Survey (MBI-ES).
Results: Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, Post hoc analyses using multiple comparison tests and ANOVA were used to compare each dimension of the MBI-HSS to the modified version of the MDS-R-OT[A]. The results revealed that both program directors and directors of clinical education identify as having moderate to high degree of moral distress and burnout, with a strong relationship between emotional exhaustion and lack of personal achievement (p<0.01). A statistically significant correlation was found when comparing emotional exhaustion and change in consideration of retirement (p<.05), and emotional exhaustion and leaving academia (p<.01). Lastly, emotional exhaustion was significantly correlated to number of years teaching(p<.05). The other subcategory of burnout that was statistically significant (p<.05) was depersonalization and higher teaching loads.
Conclusions: Moral Injury reported by directors is a significant concern post COVID that potentially can impact faculty and students, who could suffer from a lack of guidance, mentorship, and supervision as a result of moral distress and burnout, which is a result of moral injury.
Implications: It is critical to develop an understanding of the underpinning of moral distress and burnout caused by moral injury post -COVID-19 because it could aid in the identification of effective strategies to address the pressing dilemma of the shortage of directors for programs. Alleviating moral injury potentially will allow for a more robust faculty pool supported by directors who have a strong sense of commitment to the future education of physical therapy.
Funding acknowledgements: No funding acknowledgement.
Keywords:
Moral Injury
Moral Distress
Burnout
Moral Injury
Moral Distress
Burnout
Topics:
Education
COVID-19
Education: clinical
Education
COVID-19
Education: clinical
Did this work require ethics approval? Yes
Institution: Franklin Pierce University
Committee: Internal Review Board
Ethics number: AK04082021
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
