The sensible health care professional: a care ethical perspective on the role of caregivers in emotionally turbulent practices

Abstract

This article discusses the challenging context that health care professionals are confronted with, and the impact of this context on their emotional experiences. Care ethics considers emotions as a valuable source of knowledge for good care. Thinking with care ethical theory and looking through a care ethical lens at a practical case example, the authors discern reflective questions that (1) shed light on a care ethical approach toward the role of emotions in care practices, and (2) may be used by practitioners and facilitators for care ethical reflection on similar cases, in the particular and concrete context where issues around emotional experiences arise. The authors emphasize the importance of allowing emotions to exist, to acknowledge them and to not repress them, so that they can serve as a vehicle for ethical behavior in care practices. They stress the difference between acknowledging emotions and expressing them limitlessly. Formational practices and transformational research practices are being proposed to create moral space in care institutions and to support health care professionals to approach the emotionally turbulent practices they encounter in a way that contributes to good care for all those involved.

Enriching evaluation practice through care ethics

“…We have set out how a theory of care ethics (mainly adopted from Tronto) can inform evaluation and how it can be practised. Caring evaluation, as we view it, is grounded in the relational caring advanced by Tronto (1993, 2013) and in democratic evaluation (Hanberger, 2018; Simons and Greene, 2014, 2018) as well as responsive evaluation (Baur et al, 2017; Bos and Abma, 2018; Visse et al, 2015). An ethical-relational approach is needed which puts relationships at the centre to balance the dominance of certain methodologies in evaluation and to restore connections and fragmentation in our societies (Way et al, 2018).…”

Euthanasia in Dementia: A Narrative Review of Legislation and Practices in the Netherlands and Belgium

“…It is important to state here that, first of all, professionals who care for patients with dementia must have skills for providing good end-of-life care. In addition to adequate technical-medical care, professionals should be able to meaningfully connect with patients and be able to explore their suffering and understand the narratives of the patient ( 59 – 62 ). A care approach that enhances dignity is proposed to reflect on the end-of-life of persons with late-stage dementia and the role of AEDs.…”

Care and the Ethics of Care in Civilian and Military Triage

“…Beyond this, however, the role the Care Perspective should have, if any, in clinical practice has been subject to differing views. Gilligan's work continues, however, to be relevant [7,8,10,11]. Joan Tronto, another key theoretical thinker in this area, contends that the care perspective alone is incomplete and what she calls Kantian thinking is additionally necessary to insure to a greater extent that equity and justice adequately prevail in healthcare.…”

“…He speaks of this concept as seeing all people as "truly human" with" universally found feelings and ideas shared by people in all parts of the world" [17]. He elaborates this concept, citing Oliver Kozlarek -one of the authors of a book Longxi has edited [11]. Kizlarek argues "for humanism as a praxis," as a "caring effort" for the neglected, marginalized, underprivileged people in our world [17].…”

“…Still, notwithstanding these challenges, this framework continues to be most relevant and important in enabling providers to care for patients optimally [9]. It gives providers, for instance, quintessential, additional medical goals and then a check on whether they have achieved these goals -effecting positive feelings and a trusting relationship between themselves and their patients [10,11]. These two factors may in some cases be as critical as any to both their patients and to how their patients fare.…”