Dr. Annie Friedrich joined TMC for a virtual seminar on Friday, October 11th, 2024. Dr. Friedrich is an Assistant Professor of Bioethics and Medical Humanities in the Institute for Health & Equity at the Medical College of Wisconsin. She received her PhD in Health Care Ethics from Saint Louis University with a focus on clinical ethics, pediatric ethics, and empirical research methods. She is a certified clinical ethics consultant (HEC-C) and is the co-chair of the ethics committee at Children’s Wisconsin, in addition to serving on other affiliated ethics committees. She is also an ethics educator and teaches bioethics to medical students, graduate students, and other health professionals.
This seminar, titled "Flourishing in the Cracks: Cultivating Moral Resilience in the Midst of Moral Distress," explores moral complexity, confusion, uncertainty, and distress as inevitable features of the healthcare system. Leaving this distress unacknowledged and unresolved can lead to frustration, lack of meaning in work, and burnout. In this presentation, Dr. Friedrich examines the moral and spiritual dimensions of wellbeing and burnout, with a particular focus on factors contributing to moral distress, and will discuss how we can build flourishing, morally resilient communities for both patients and practitioners.