Barriers to ethical nursing practice for older adults in long-term care facilities

To explore barriers to ethical nursing practice for older adults in long-term care facilities from the perspectives of nurses in South Korea.

The number of older adults admitted to long-term care facilities is increasing rapidly in South Korea. To provide this population with quality care, a solid moral foundation should be emphasised to ensure the provision of ethical nursing practices. Barriers to implementing an ethical nursing practice for older adults in long-term care facilities have not been fully explored in previous literature.

A qualitative, descriptive design was used to explore barriers to ethical nursing practice as perceived by registered nurses in long-term care facilities in South Korea.

Individual interviews were conducted with 17 registered nurses recruited using purposive (snowball) sampling who care for older adults in long-term care facilities in South Korea. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis.

Five main themes emerged from the data analysis concerning barriers to the ethical nursing practice of long-term care facilities: emotional distress, treatments restricting freedom of physical activities, difficulty coping with emergencies, difficulty communicating with the older adult patients and friction between nurses and nursing assistants.

This study has identified methods that could be used to improve ethical nursing practices for older adults in long-term care facilities. Because it is difficult to improve the quality of care through education and staffing alone, other factors may also require attention.

Support programmes and educational opportunities are needed for nurses who experience emotional distress and lack of competency to strengthen their resilience towards some of the negative aspects of care and being a nurse that were identified in this study.