Being ethical and bioethical in daily life of primary health care: nurses’ perceptions (original) (raw)
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Everyday ethics: ethical issues and stress in nursing practice
Journal of Advanced Nursing, 2010
Aim. This paper is a report of a study of the type, frequency, and level of stress of ethical issues encountered by nurses in their everyday practice. Background. Everyday ethical issues in nursing practice attract little attention but can create stress for nurses. Nurses often feel uncomfortable in addressing the ethical issues they encounter in patient care. Methods. A self-administered survey was sent in 2004 to 1000 nurses in four states in four different census regions of the United States of America. The adjusted response rate was 52%. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, crosstabulations and Pearson correlations. Results. A total of 422 questionnaires were used in the analysis. The five most frequently occurring and most stressful ethical and patient care issues were protecting patients' rights; autonomy and informed consent to treatment; staffing patterns; advanced care planning; and surrogate decision-making. Other common occurrences were unethical practices of healthcare professionals; breaches of patient confidentiality or right to privacy; and end-of-life decision-making. Younger nurses and those with fewer years of experience encountered ethical issues more frequently and reported higher levels of stress. Nurses from different regions also experienced specific types of ethical problems more commonly. Conclusion. Nurses face daily ethical challenges in the provision of quality care. To retain nurses, targeted ethics-related interventions that address caring for an increasingly complex patient population are needed.
Navigating towards a moral horizon: a multisite qualitative study of ethical practice in nursing
The Canadian journal of nursing research = Revue canadienne de recherche en sciences infirmières, 2009
This paper reports the results of a qualitative study of nurses' ethical decision-making. Focus groups of nurses in diverse practice contexts were used as a means to explore the meaning of ethics and the enactment of ethical practice. The findings centre on the metaphor ofa moral horizon--the horizon representing "the good" towards which the nurses were navigating.The findings suggest that currents within the moral climate of nurses' work significantly influence nurses' progress towards their moral horizon. All too often the nurses found themselves navigating against a current characterized by the privileging of biomedicine and a corporate ethos. Conversely, a current of supportive colleagues as well as professional guidelines and standards and ethics education helped them to move towards their horizon.The implications for nursing practice and for our understanding of ethical decision-making are discussed.
Ethical practice in nursing: working the in‐betweens
Journal of Advanced Nursing, 2004
Ethical practice in nursing: working the in-betweens Background. While contemporary ethical theory is of tremendous value to nursing, the extent to which such theory has been informed by the concerns and practices of nurses has been limited. Purpose. With a view to complementing extant ethical theory, a study was undertaken to explore, from the perspective of nurses, the meaning of ethics and the enactment of ethical practice in nursing.
Journal of Medical Ethics, 1994
This paper raises the questions: 'What do we expect from nursing ethics?' and 'Is the literature of nursing ethics any different from that of medical ethics?' It is suggested that rather than develop nursing ethics as a separate field writers in nursing ethics should take a lead in making the patient the centralfocus of health care ethics. The case is made for empirical work in health care ethics and it is suggested that a good way of setting about this is to ask practising nurses about the real ethical problems they encounter. to go away.
Nurses’ Lived Experience with Ethical Problems: A Phenomenological Approach
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Introduction: As nursing is ethically grounded profession guided by moral principles, ethical problems are also an integral part of the nursing work situation. Therefore, this study was undertaken to explore nurses’ lived experience of ethical problem in clinical practice. Methodology: Nurses’ experience of ethical problem was explored qualitatively by using a phenomenological hermeneutic approach. Four nurses, involved in patient care for more than five years and working in a teaching hospital of Nepal were selected purposively. After receiving ethical approval, in-depth interview was conducted in Nepali language using a semi-structured interview guide. The interview was audio taped with written permission of the participants. The recordings were downloaded to a password protected personal computer and transcribed verbatim by the Investigator. After transcription, data was analyzed thematically. Results: The four main themes of ethical problems experienced by the nurses were: Negli...
Can the Study of Ethics Enhance Nursing Practice?
Journal of advanced nursing, 2005
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“Values That Vanish into Thin Air”: Nurses' Experience of Ethical Values in Their Daily Work
Nursing Research and Practice, 2013
The objective of this study was to examine how nurses experience ethical values as they are expressed in daily practice in a Norwegian hospital. A growing focus in Western healthcare on effectiveness, production, and retrenchment has an influence on professional nursing standards and nursing values. Lack of resources and subsequent ethically difficult prioritizations imply a strain on nurses. This study is qualitative. Data collection was carried out by conducting 4 focus group interviews. The data was analyzed using content analysis. The results are presented in two main themes: (1) values and reflection are important for the nurses; (2) time pressure and nursing frustrations in daily work. The results demonstrate that nurses believe the ethical values to be of crucial importance for the quality of nursing; however, the ethical values are often repressed in daily practice. This results in feeling of frustration, fatigue, and guilty conscience for the nurses. There is a need for cha...