Research Studies

AMSN Supports Research to Improve Patient Care and Medical-Surgical Nursing Practice

AMSN Joins The George Washington University Study: Moral Injury Among Nurses

AMSN is proud to be part of of a new research study at The George Washington University, called Moral Injury Among Nurses, which aims to help nurses, the healthcare industry, and the public understand and address moral injury among nurses. The study strives to illuminate the challenges facing nurses, and the importance of system-level changes to address these problems.

What is Moral Injury?

Moral injury is defined as “psychological, biological, spiritual, behavioral, and social impact of perpetrating, failing to prevent, or bearing witness to acts that transgress deeply held moral beliefs and expectations" (Litz et al., 2009). It is one of the major causes of burnout, secondary trauma, compassion fatigue, and other negative effects of nursing. This concept of moral injury emphasizes system-level causes and solutions, and is distinct from the emphasis on individual resilience as a solution to the costs of caring. 

As a partner, AMSN is doing its part by collecting and sharing nurses’ stories from a variety of settings. Additionally, AMSN will use the data of medical-surgical nurses' experiences of moral injury to further develop resources and education for med-surg nurses and will use these findings to amplify the system level issues you face and to advocate on your behalf.

Through the narratives of moral injury that individual nurses have experienced, the project will identify major constraints on nurses that are weakening the social conscience of the profession. 

Nurses have the option of submitting written commentaries, audio or video recordings, or requesting that we contact them for a recorded interview. All stories will be anonymous, unless requested otherwise.  If you are interested in participating,  please submit your personal story here:  http://www.gwmi.org/moralinjury.

Questions? Please contact research@amsn.org.

AMSN Sponsored Research

AMSN places calls from time-to-time for researchers to partner with us on research projects we undertake to advance the knowledge of medical-surgical nursing practice.

Recruit for Your Research

Medical-surgical nurses are a large, diverse, and important population to include in your research. If you are interested in having AMSN members and or CMSRN certified nurses participate in your research study, please follow the link below to learn the details about recruiting AMSN members and/or CMSRN certified nurses to participate in your study. You can recruit for your research here.

Participate in Open Research Studies

We only distribute study participation requests that we believe will benefit our members and medical-surgical nursing. If you see an invitation to participate in a research study via an email, on our website, or posted on our social media pages, be assured that this study has been vetted and approved by our Research Team. We encourage you to participate – your voice counts!