Perception of futile care and caring behaviors of nurses in intensive care units

Rostami, Somaye; Esmaeali, Ravanbakhsh; Jafari, Hedayat; Cherati, Jamshid Yazdani

doi:10.1177/0969733017703694

Cited by 33 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 20 publications

(26 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The frequent occurrence of these consequences over the years has tended to foster a negative attitude towards admission and hospitalisation of elderlies with advanced diseases. In line with our findings, previous studies found that the perception of futile care hurts caring behaviours of ICU caregivers toward elderly patients [22], [23], [24], [25].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Challenges and Barriers to Providing Care to Older Adult Patients in the Intensive Care Unit: A Qualitative Research

Heydari

Sharifi

Moghaddam

2019

Open Access Maced J Med Sci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BACKGROUND: Enhancing the quality of care for elderly patients needs an understanding of the challenges and obstacles experienced by the intensive care unit (ICU) staff in providing care. AIM: To explore the most challenging issues experienced by ICU staff, in particular, nurses, in the care of elderly patients in the general adult ICU. DESIGN: A qualitative research design was employed. The Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research (SRQR) were followed. METHODS: Based on theoretical sampling, we carried out 34 in-depth semi-structured interviews from two medical adult ICUs. Data analysis was carried out using qualitative conventional content analysis. RESULTS: Data analysis led to the identification of three interrelated categories and 12 subcategories. Three main categories were factors related to nurses’ attitude in elderly care, factors related to the system of care, and factors related to the models of patient care delivery. These categories came under the main theme of "Inappropriate and unfair system for elderly care". CONCLUSION: The findings of this study increase scholarly understanding of challenges and barriers to providing care to elderly patients in the general adult ICU. We found that the provision of care to elderly patients is inappropriate and unfair. Various obstacles must be overcome to improve the care of these patients. For example, negative attitudes toward elder care, inappropriate environments, lack of resources, lack of knowledge and skills, a specialized model of care delivery, respect for humanity, care without considering patient age, and separating professional conflicts from patient care. These findings may be used by ICU’s caregivers and managers to improve the quality of care. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Various obstacles were documented that need to be overcome by hospital administrators, nursing managers, clinical nurses, nursing educators, nursing researchers to improve the care of elderly patients admitted to ICU.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Challenges and Barriers to Providing Care to Older Adult Patients in the Intensive Care Unit: A Qualitative Research

Heydari

Sharifi

Moghaddam

2019

Open Access Maced J Med Sci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…9 A direct relationship has been observed between therapeutic futility and resource waste, moral conflicts, and nurses' exhaustion, 9 and a negative relationship between the perception of futile care and the behavior of nurses in care has been highlighted. 11 The authors of this review identify as limitations studies with unrepresentative samples, studies with participants with limited professional experience in caring for critically ill patients, and studies conducted in highly complex units. These limitations, associated with the gaps in the literature on the subject under review, lead the authors to conclude that the results of this review cannot be generalized to all adult intensive care units and to recommend further studies, with more significant samples.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The study by Rostami et al, 11 which sought to determine the relationship between nurses' perceptions of futile care and their behavior toward end-of-life patients in intensive care units, identified 65.7% of nurses as having a moderate perception of futile care, and although the authors identified a negative relationship between the perception of futile care and the behavior of nurses in caring, it was found that 98.9% demonstrate desirable behaviors in providing care to end-of-life patients.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…This may be related to the increase in life expectancy, technological advances, the latest medical equipment, the rising costs associated with health care, and a growing concern for people's autonomy. 9 Today, although it is generally agreed that therapeutic futility is a difficult concept to define whose meaning may vary in different countries, depending on existing culture, values, religion, beliefs, and medical advances, 10 some authors find "futile" to refer to care or treatment that has no benefit to the person, 11 consisting of the provision of inadequate treatments that may not contribute to improving prognosis, relieving symptoms, or prolonging life. 12 However, advancing a definition of therapeutic futility and knowing how to recognize it is a complex and sensitive process that raises questions for which concrete answers are difficult to find, 13 since futility is related to assumptions about quality and span of life and may be invoked in an ethically unjustifiable way.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Perceptions of intensive care unit nurses of therapeutic futility: A scoping review

2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Introduction Intensive care units are contexts in which, due to the remarkable existence of particularly technological resources, interventions are promoted to extend the life of people who experience highly complex health situations. This ability can lead to a culture of death denial where the possibility of implementing futile care and treatment cannot be excluded. Objective To describe nurses’ perceptions of adult intensive care units regarding the therapeutic futility of interventions implemented to persons in critical health conditions. Method Review of the literature following the Scoping Review protocol of the Joanna Briggs Institute. The Population, Concept, and Context mnemonic was used to elaborate the research question and the research was performed using the EBSCOHost search engine in the CINAHL Complete databases, MEDLINE Complete, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews to identify studies published between 1990 and 2019. Seven studies were selected. Results Nurses consider that therapeutic futility, a current problem in adult intensive care units, may have a negative impact on persons in critical health conditions and that contributes directly to resource expenditure and moral conflicts and consequently leads to emotional exhaustion. Conclusion Due to the complexity of this concept, knowing and understanding people’s and families’ perceptions is crucial to the decision-making process, for which reason nurses can play a key role in managing these situations.

show abstract

“…The concept of moral distress could have important implications for nurses working in organ donation and transplantation settings. Tracing the investigations completed to date on moral distress, we see that most studies on this topic have involved critical care nurses [1][2][3][4] , palliative care nurses 5,6 or oncology nurses [7][8][9] . As such, it is evident that moral distress has been of interest to nurses who work in areas where death or dying is a daily component.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptions of Moral Distress among Nursing Students in Relation to Organ Donation

Victorino¹,

Wilson²

2019

BJFS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This was a pilot study as it used a newly devised survey tool to determine the views and attitudes of undergraduate nursing students to the shortage of organs for transplantation purposes, with this survey also gaining insight into any possible moral distress. The survey tool was distributed to 134 undergraduate nursing students who attended a mandatory nursing research course, with 104 (77.6%) participating. The data were analyzed through content analysis, with three main themes identified: right to life, impact on others, and emotions. A high level of moral distress among the participants were identified, which confirm the necessity of future studies on this topic.

show abstract

Perception of futile care and caring behaviors of nurses in intensive care units

Cited by 33 publications

References 20 publications

Challenges and Barriers to Providing Care to Older Adult Patients in the Intensive Care Unit: A Qualitative Research

Challenges and Barriers to Providing Care to Older Adult Patients in the Intensive Care Unit: A Qualitative Research

Perceptions of intensive care unit nurses of therapeutic futility: A scoping review

Perceptions of Moral Distress among Nursing Students in Relation to Organ Donation

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About