Norwegian Nurses’ Reflections Upon Experiences of Ethical Challenges in Older People Care - A Qualitative Thematic Analysis

Abstract

Background: Many countries face an increasingly older population in need of health care services. There are reports of lack of qualified staff and resources, resulting in poor quality and undignified care. Care quality is depended upon factors like organization and staffing, but it is also recommended to focus on what staff members experience in clinical practice. In addition, ethical competence is a precondition for high quality care. The aim of this study is to provide knowledge about ethically challenging situations in caring for older people in institutions such as nursing homes and hospitals, and to gain insight into nurses’ written reflections about their experiences and management of ethical challenges in clinical practice.Methods: The data material consist of reflection notes by continuous education students in advanced gerontology in Norway. Data was collected in 2017–2018. We included 42 of 83 notes and utilized qualitative thematic analysis.Findings: “Doing what is in the patients’ best interest” is the guiding principle for the participants, portrayed through three themes as follows: a) Meeting vulnerability, discomfort and emotional pain, b) Collaboration with relatives, and c) Struggling to perform professional care. Within each theme, we provide a variety of ethically challenging situations in older people care. The findings represent the participants’ written experiences and reflections upon how they manage the situation and their effort to provide the best possible care.Conclusions: Health care professionals’ ethical competences may develop when reflecting upon their care performance. Therefore, building ethical competence should be a priority in education of healthcare professionals and in clinical practice. We acknowledge that ethical reflection does not automatically improve care quality, although we find that it fosters increased awareness of one’s action, and as such, it can act as a potential for change.Implications for practice: How nurses reflect upon and manage challenging situations indicates that quality in care is possible despite scarce resources, and this may contribute to reduce ageism and encourage health care personnel to be willing to work in older people care.

The feasibility of the story as a quality instrument as a narrative quality improvement method

“…[12] International initiatives underline the value of qualitative data for reflection in nursing care for older adults. [13] Reflection by, and an open dialogue between, stakeholders is advocated for improving quality in a specific care context. Emphasis is placed on learning as a basis for quality improvement.…”