The Moral Injury Epidemic: Wendy Dean on How to Change Healthcare

In today's episode I speak with Wendy Dean, MD, is a psychiatrist and co-founder of the non-profit organization Fix Moral Injury. We discuss her book If I Betray These Words and the work being done to address moral injury in healthcare. 

"Moral injury describes the plight of tough, resourceful, and resilient clinicians who feel trapped between the patient-first values of their Hippocratic oath and the business imperatives of a broken healthcare system."

"Moral injury is distinct from other forms of distress or pain, including burnout. The two conditions may occur separately, or simultaneously, and may influence each other, but addressing one does not guarantee resolution of the other."

Her recent article in The New England Journal of Medicine, titled Moral Injury and the Global Health Workforce Crisis, underscores the urgent need for compassionate care within healthcare systems.

She is the host of the podcast Moral Matters with Dr. Simon Talbot, which explores moral injury faced by healthcare professionals with a focus on solutions and the need for change.

More recently, she hosts 43cc with Dr. Matt Ramsey and they take an in-depth look at medicine’s machinery tearing the patient-physician relationship apart and to stitch them back together. 

Dr. Dean is a leading voice on moral injury in medicine, highlighting the impact of systemic issues on clinician well-being.  A passionate advocate for healthcare reform, Wendy fosters a culture of well-being and support for healthcare providers.

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