Related Experiment Videos
Involving relatives in consultations for patients with long-term illnesses: Nurses and physicians' experiences.
1OsloMet - Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway.
Nursing Ethics
|January 29, 2019
Summary
Healthcare professionals face ethical challenges involving family in patient consultations. Findings reveal insufficient routines for involving relatives, highlighting a need for systematic ethical discussions and updated organizational practices to balance patient autonomy with family care needs.
Area of Science:
- Healthcare Ethics
- Clinical Practice
- Patient-Centered Care
Background:
- Increasing elderly populations strain healthcare systems globally.
- Growing need for family involvement in patient care and long-term home treatments.
- Traditional one-on-one consultations are challenged by evolving patient and family needs.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore nurses' and physicians' experiences with ethical challenges.
- To understand how healthcare professionals address relatives in consultations.
- To examine practices in Norwegian hospital outpatient clinics.
Main Methods:
- Individual in-depth interviews with eight nurses and two physicians.
- Analysis using an eclectic 'bricolage' approach combining thematic and normative analyses.
- Adherence to ethical principles of voluntariness, confidentiality, withdrawal, and anonymity.
Main Results:
- Patient autonomy was cited to limit relatives' access to consultations.
- Insufficient established routines for inviting and involving relatives were identified.
- Discrepancies noted in how patient autonomy is interpreted and applied.
Conclusions:
- Future healthcare will likely see increased challenges to traditional patient autonomy principles.
- Need for systematic ethical deliberation regarding family involvement in clinical settings.
- Organizational review of routines for inviting next of kin to consultations is essential.