TITLE:
Norwegian Nurse Managers’ Perceptions of Ethical Conflicts in Community Healthcare When Caring for Older Persons Who Wish to Die
AUTHORS:
Anne Lise Holm, Astrid Karin Berland, Elisabeth Severinsson
KEYWORDS:
Death Wishes, Ethical Conflicts, Focus Group, Home Healthcare, Older Patients
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Nursing,
Vol.7 No.11,
November
21,
2017
ABSTRACT: The
complexity of the healthcare organization with emphasis on efficiency and
productivity has led to an increase in value conflicts as well as moral and
ethical conflicts. The aim of this study was to explore nurse managers’
perceptions of ethical conflicts when caring for older patients who wish to
die. A qualitative method was employed and data were collected by means of a
focus group interview with eight nurse managers. The results revealed one theme: A struggle due to
responsibility for decision making and four sub-themes:Understanding the
meaning of free will, wondering about how serious the death wish is, providing
more worthy elder care and lack of competent healthcare professionals to
provide safe care. Nurse managers’ have no structure for bringing ethical
conflicts to the attention of their leaders or the next level of the
organization. Consequently, they appear to need supervision, support and clear,
flexible lines of communication with leadership.