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Ethical difficulties in healthcare: A comparison between physicians and nurses
Cinzia Leuter, Carmen La Cerra1, Santina Calisse2
1University of L'Aquila, Italy.
Nursing Ethics
|January 19, 2017
Summary
Healthcare professionals face increasing ethical challenges. This study found that while nurses better judge their ethics knowledge, physicians have more specialized training, and both groups are more likely to seek ethics consultations with greater experience.
Area of Science:
- Medical Ethics
- Healthcare Professional Development
Background:
- Biomedical advances increase ethical dilemmas for healthcare workers.
- Growing complexity necessitates support for navigating ethical issues.
Purpose of the Study:
- Analyze nurses' and physicians' ethics knowledge.
- Assess their experience with ethical issues.
- Evaluate their propensity to use ethics consultations.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional observational study (March-June 2014).
- Surveyed 351 nurses and 128 physicians in four Italian hospitals.
- Used a 21-item semi-structured questionnaire.
Main Results:
- Both nurses and physicians encounter ethically sensitive situations.
- Nurses demonstrated better self-assessment of ethics knowledge; physicians had more specialized ethics training.
- Propensity for ethics consultation correlated with experience in ethical issues.
Conclusions:
- Ethics consultation services can support professional growth.
- Combined with education, these services aid shared decision-making.
- Essential for enhancing ethical practice among nurses and physicians.
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