Swedish and Chinese nurses’ conceptions of ethical problems: a comparative study

Abstract

The findings also show the need for a reduction of nurses' workload as well as the importance of assuring that nurses have the knowledge they need to carry out their work. The communication between nurses and other members of the health-care team, patients and relatives also needs to be improved.

Ethical dilemmas in nursing: An integrative review

“…Another recurrent theme was related to organisational constraints (Ahern & McDonald, ; Barlem et al., ; Blondal & Halldorsdottir, ; Cooper et al., ; de Carvalho & Lunardi, ; DeWolf Bosek, ; Ganz & Berkovitz, ; Gaudine & Thorne, ; Jackson et al., ; Pavlish et al., ; Silén et al., , ; Wadensten et al., ). For example, staffing shortages that did not allow nurses to give the best care often led to ethical dilemmas as nurses tried to determine what they could omit or which patients needed the most care.…”

“…The most frequently cited ethical dilemmas were related to end-oflife issues and this prevalence of end-of-life issues is not surprising given that technological advances continue to extend life. The issues cited included communication about prognosis, inadequate palliation, questions of potential healing and futility (Blasszauer & Palfi, 2005;Blondal & Halldorsdottir, 2009;Chiu et al, 2009;de Carvalho & Lunardi, 2009;DeWolf Bosek, 2009;Eriksson, Andersson, Olsson, Milberg, & Friedrichsen, 2014;Fernandes & Moreira, 2013;Harris, 2002;Jackson et al, 2010;Kinoshita, 2007;Pavlish, Brown-Saltzman, Jakel, & Rounkle, 2012;Shorideh et al, 2012;Sil en, Tang, & Ahlstr€ om, 2009;Wadensten et al, 2008). Nurses are frequently confronted with situations where they believe dying is not being handled with sufficient attention to comfort or when further treatment is futile.…”

“…(Although not reported in the US literature, it can certainly be argued that ability to pay is also a factor in access to care in the States). This lack of access was attributed to organisational or cultural barriers (Sil en et al, 2009;Wadensten et al, 2008).…”

“…Families of patients also created ethical dilemmas for nurses (Chaves & Massarollo, 2009;Choe et al, 2015;DeWolf Bosek, 2009;Fernandes & Moreira, 2013;Kinoshita, 2007;Pavlish et al, 2012;Rejeh, Ahmadi, Mohamadi, Anoosheh, & Kazemnejad, 2009;Sil en et al, 2008Sil en et al, , 2009. Some researchers reported this as conflict with the healthcare team in regard to the best treatment plan (Chaves & Massarollo, 2009).…”

A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Nurses' Ethical Concerns

“…11 Pang vividly describes the resulting ethical dilemmas that nurses encounter daily in China. 4 Our research group has conducted three separate studies [12][13][14] on workplace stress and the ethical problems that nurses encounter in Sweden and China. Exploring nursing phenomena among populations with great cultural differences may help to identify and further explore general patterns occurring across cultures.…”