Nursing ethics
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Multicenter Study
Professional quality of life of Japanese nurses/midwives providing abortion/childbirth care.
This study explored the relationship between professional quality of life and emotion work and the major stress factors related to abortion care in Japanese obstetric and gynecological nurses and midwives. Between October 2011 and January 2012, questionnaires that included questions concerning eight stress factors, the Professional Quality of Life Scale, and the Japanese version of the Frankfurt Emotional Work Scale, were answered by 255 nurses and midwives working in abortion and childbirth services. ⋯ The stress factors "thinking that the aborted fetus deserved to live" and "difficulty in controlling emotions during abortion care" were associated with compassion fatigue. These findings indicate that providing abortion services is a highly distressing experience for nurses and midwives.
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Moral distress and avoidance behavior in nurses working in critical care and noncritical care units.
Nurses facing impediments to what they perceive as moral practice may experience moral distress. The purpose of this descriptive, cross-sectional study was to determine similarities and differences in moral distress and avoidance behavior between critical care nurses and non-critical care nurses. Sixty-eight critical care and 28 non-critical care nurses completed the Moral Distress Scale and Impact of Event Scale (IES). ⋯ There was a small positive correlation between moral distress and avoidance behaviors for both the groups. Moral distress is present in both critical care and noncritical care nurses. It is important that nurses are provided with opportunities to cope with this distress and that retention strategies include ways to reduce suffering and mitigate the effects on professional practice.
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Significant minority populations confer richness and diversity to British society. Responsive end-of-life care is a universal need that has ascended the public agenda following myriad reports of inadequate provision. ⋯ Recent implementation of the Equality Act 2010, together with the government and professional initiatives, promises to positively impact upon this area of contemporary relevance and concern, although the extent to which facilitative policies can truly enhance patient care will depend upon how these are translated into care at the bedside. The contributions of health professionals will be central in meeting the challenges and seizing the opportunities for meeting the religion and faith interests of patients of South Asian descent.
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The main question examined is: How do nurses and other healthcare professionals ensure ethical interprofessional collaboration-in-practice as an everyday practice actuality? Ethical interprofessional collaboration becomes especially relevant and necessary when interprofessional practice decisions are contested. To illustrate, two healthcare scenarios are analyzed through three ethics lenses. ⋯ Analysis suggests that interprofessional collaboration-in-practice may be more rhetoric than actuality. Key challenges of interprofessional collaboration-in-practice and specific conditions perpetuating dissension and conflict are outlined with specific education and policy recommendations included.
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Inadequate pain control, especially in older adults, remains a significant issue when caring for this population. Older adults, many of whom experience multiple acute and chronic conditions, are especially vulnerable to having their pain seriously underassessed and inadequately treated. ⋯ To fulfill their ethical obligation to relieve pain in older patients, nurses often need to advocate on their behalf. This article provides an overview of the persistent problem of undertreated pain in older adults and explores how nurses can meet this ethical duty through the application of Beauchamp and Childress' three principles of beneficence.