Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • harvard-cite-them-right
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Some ethical conflicts in emergency care
University of Borås, School of Health Science.
2015 (English)In: Nursing Ethics, ISSN 0969-7330, E-ISSN 1477-0989, Vol. 22, no 8, p. 928-942Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Abstract Background: Decision-making and assessment in emergency situations are complex and result many times in ethical conflicts between different healthcare professionals. Aim: To analyse and describe situations that can generate ethical conflict among nurses working in emergency situations. Methods: Qualitative analysis. A total of 16 emergency nurses took part in interviews and a focus group. Ethical considerations: Organisational approval by the University Hospital, and informed consent and confidentiality were ensured before conducting the research. Result/conclusion: Two categories emerged: one in ‘ethical issues’ and one in ‘emotions and feelings in caring’. The four ethical subcategories are presented: Autonomy, the first sub category: first, the nurse’s ability to practise care on an emergency ward and, second, to support the patient and/or relatives in terms of care and medical treatment. The conflicts arise when the nurse ends up in the middle between the patient and the physician responsible for the diagnosis and treatment from a nature scientific perspective. Reification of injured body: patient was often reified and fragmented, becoming just a leg or arm. Different factors contributed in this perspective. Pain: pain relief was often inadequate but more effectively treated in the emergency medical services than at the emergency department. The nurses highlighted the phenomenon of suffering because they felt that pain was only an object, forgetting the patients’ care need, like separating mind from body. Death: the nurses felt that the emergency services are only prepared to save lives and not to take care of the needs of patients with ‘end-of-life’ care. Another issue was the lack of ethical guidelines during a cardiac arrest. Resuscitation often continues without asking about the patient’s ‘previous wishes’ in terms of resuscitation or not. In these situations, the nurses describe an ethical conflict with the physician in performing their role as the patient’s advocate. The nurses express feelings of distress, suffering, anger and helplessness.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Sage Publications Ltd. , 2015. Vol. 22, no 8, p. 928-942
Keywords [en]
emergency medical services, ethic, Ethics in emergency
National Category
Medical and Health Sciences
Research subject
Integrated Caring Science
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-2012DOI: 10.1177/0969733014549880ISI: 000360109500004PubMedID: 25335919Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-84939618973Local ID: 2320/14575OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hb-2012DiVA, id: diva2:870093
Available from: 2015-11-13 Created: 2015-11-13 Last updated: 2018-12-07Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

Publisher's full textPubMedScopus

Authority records

Axelsson, Christer

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Axelsson, Christer
By organisation
School of Health Science
In the same journal
Nursing Ethics
Medical and Health Sciences

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

doi
pubmed
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
pubmed
urn-nbn
Total: 215 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • harvard-cite-them-right
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf