2 8 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • J U N E 2 0 1 9
Wendy Dean, MD
Moral Injury | Bethesda, Md.
L
ast year, psychiatrist Wendy Dean,
MD, and reconstructive plastic sur-
geon Simon Talbot, MD, published an
article in STAT titled "Physicians aren't 'burn-
ing out.' They're suffering from moral injury"
(osmag.net/EMX3dx). Let's say it struck a
chord.
"We didn't know if this would make any
sense to anyone else, but it made sense to us,"
says Dr. Dean. "We put it out there, and were
shocked by the response we received" — to
the tune of almost 250,000 article downloads
and millions of related video views on the
subject. "People said, 'This is the language
I've been looking for to describe how I feel,'"
she says. "It explains very clearly the struggle
that healthcare providers deal with every
day."
What is moral injury? It's feeling over-
whelmed, demoralized, exhausted, alone. Dr.
Dean says the concept came into being as
Vietnam War veterans returned home and
were treated for PTSD.
Practitioners found that in some
cases their treatments for PTSD
weren't working. "They realized
It's Moral Injury, Not Burnout
• In addition to being the
co-founder of Moral
Injury
(moralinjury.healthcare),
Dr. Dean is senior vice
president of program
operations with The
Henry M. Jackson
Foundation for the
Advancement of Military
Medicine in Bethesda,
Md.
• A private practice psychi-
atrist from 2000 to 2010,
she left clinical medicine
when generating revenue
crowded out the patient-
centered priorities in her
practice.
• She worked for the U.S.
Army in product develop-
ment for regenerative
medicine technologies
from 2010 to 2018, and is
considered an expert in
the field of hand and face
transplants.
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