Reducing moral stress in veterinary teams? Evaluating the use of ethical discussion groups and ethical decision making tools in veterinary practice.

Vets regularly experience ethical dilemmas when balancing the needs of animals, their owners and financial constraints. Moral stress, described as a feeling of conflict over what care it is appropriate to provide, may even contribute to the heightened risk of suicide observed in the veterinary profession. Charitable veterinary providers such as PDSA are currently working under extremely challenging conditions, with reduced capacity and increased demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Whilst ethical discussion groups and the use of ethical decision making tools have been proposed for supporting veterinary decision making, such practices have yet to be evaluated for their effectiveness in veterinary rather than equivalent human medical teams. I will pilot the use of an ethical decision making tool within a supportive group environment to help PDSA veterinary teams explore their approaches to ethically challenging cases. Through in depth interviews, I will invite veterinary team members to share their experiences of moral stress and evaluate the effectiveness of small group structured ethical discussions. My research will help PDSA develop strategies for improving veterinary mental health through supported ethical decision making. The research will also help us to better understand the causes and effects of moral stress in veterinary teams.