Australian clinical nurse supervisors’ ethical decision‐making style

Abstract

This paper explores clinical nurse supervisors' ethical styles with regard to supervision in healthcare. Eighty-six registered nurses, all with experience of supervising clinical nurses and students in nursing, completed a specifically designed questionnaire. A qualitative interpretative content analysis identified three core themes: (i) 'Is it safe?'; (ii) 'Is it right?'; and (iii) 'Is it kind?', describing the clinical nurse supervisors' ethical styles. The first core theme 'Is it safe?' covered the supervisors' rules, codes and values that guide their supervisory actions, as well as two sub-themes: (i) empowerment and (ii) integrity. The second core theme 'Is it right?' described the supervisors' responsibility and advocacy as well as the ethical dilemmas experienced in the supervisory process. The third core theme 'Is it kind?' included the supervisors' relationships with patients, professionals and supervisees. The results demonstrate the value of offering a support system, such as clinical supervision, which helps nurses to explore their professional identity for the benefit of the patients.

Elements and Strategies for Ethical Decision-Making in Nursing

“…20,[22][23] Five studies were performed in the United States, 1,14,[22][23]28 three in the UK, 20,[25][26] two in Australia, 15,19 Sweden, [12][13] Norway 17,24 and Canada 16,18 and one in Israel, 27 Brazil 4 and Chile. 21 Six studies were conducted in the hospital context, [12][13]15,[19][20]24 one with nurses of primary healthcare, pediatrics, adult health and obstetrics 14 and one only with nurses of primary healthcare. 17 The study participants were supervisors nurses, 1-2,15 nurses, 3,5,9 …”

“…The final sample included 19 studies, nine were empirical articles [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] (when data collection of the study is from people), eight theoretical 1,4,[21][22][23][24][25][26] (when the study discusses a topic or a theoretical question, with no intervention at the level of experience) and two case studies [27][28] (when the study has an empirical intervention, which allows the phenomena to be studied in depth in real contexts). The majority of the studies (95%) were published in English.…”

“…The majority of the studies (95%) were published in English. 1,[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] Six studies were published in Nursing Ethics (impact factor 1.093, evaluation year 2013), three in the Journal of Advanced Nursing (impact factor 1.685, evaluation year 2013) and two in the Journal of Community Health Nursing (impact factor 0.65, evaluation year 2013). Considering the classification that has seven levels of quality of evidence, 29 the results of this integrative review present a level of evidence of six, as they were derived from a single descriptive or qualitative study.…”

“…20,[22][23] Five studies were performed in the United States, 1,14,[22][23]28 three in the UK, 20,[25][26] two in Australia, 15,19 14 and one only with nurses of primary healthcare. 17 The study participants were supervisors nurses, [1][2]15 nurses, 3,5,9 nurses and students, 15,18 healthcare professionals 17,19 and nursing managers. 27 The majority of the authors (95%) were university professors.…”

“…27 The majority of the authors (95%) were university professors. 1,4,[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]28 In one study 27 the author was the president of a nursing association.…”