Comfort and nurses' moral choices

Area of Science:

• Nursing Ethics
• Qualitative Research
• Long-Term Care

Background:

• Caring is central to nursing ethics, but its practical application in clinical settings is under-researched.
• Few studies explore the lived experience of caring and its connection to moral choices in nursing practice.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the concept of comfort as experienced by long-term care nurses.
• To understand how comfort influences the moral choices made by nurses in their daily practice.
• To explore the roles nurses adopt in providing and perceiving comfort.

Main Methods:

• Descriptive qualitative study design.
• Semi-structured interviews with 15 registered nurses in long-term care.
• Analysis of interview data focusing on comfort and moral decision-making.

Main Results:

• Long-term care nurses act as mediators and communicators to achieve an ideal of 'good nursing practice'.
• Nurses utilize multiple criteria for moral choices, with comfort (both personal and resident's) being a significant factor.
• The study highlights the dual role of providing and feeling comfort in nurses' ethical considerations.

Conclusions:

• Comfort is a key element in the moral decision-making of long-term care nurses.
• Nurses' roles as mediators and communicators are crucial for integrating comfort into ethical practice.
• Further research into the practical application of caring, specifically comfort, can inform nursing ethics and practice.