Abstract
The overview study presents to pediatric public some topics that are important for the care of child patients but so far are not an object of deeper interest in the Czech Republic. There are cases where healthcare professionals know what would be right to do for child patients but external obstacles (economic, pressure from superiors, co-workers or parents) prevent them from carrying it out. The study summarizes the experience from abroad and divides them into four sections:
1. It defines the term moral distress and terms related to it;
2. It presents two models of moral distress as examples;
3. It introduces assessment procedures (quantitative, qualitative and mixed);
4. It illustrates the main research directions dealing with this phenomenon. It points out that the attention of researchers is so far focused on the moral distress faced by physicians and nurses in hospitals, while the study of moral distress faced by medical staff in outpatient facilities remains aside.