Navigating Cognitive Dissonance: A Qualitative Content Analysis Exploring Medical Students' Experiences of Moral Distress in the Emergency Department.

Understanding medical students' cognitive dissonance in the ED will help educators support their students as they negotiate the differences between preferences and principles while being acculturated into clinical practice. Future work should develop specific interventions to promote educator understanding of learners' moral distress and to develop novel models of support for learners.