Nursing inquiry
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
High technology and nursing: ethical dilemmas nurses and physicians face on high-technology units in Norway.
Results from two studies of ethical dilemmas nurses and doctors experience on two high-technology units are compared and discussed. The qualitative comparative methodology of grounded theory was used to generate theoretical frameworks grounded in the empirical realities of the units. ⋯ Differences between the two study units were patient diagnosis, hierarchical structure on one unit while one had a vertical structure and decision-making processes, and finally how nursing knowledge and autonomy were used. The two studies demonstrated that clinical, ethical and administrative interactions and decisions are highly compounded, stressful and intertwined.