NICU nurses' moral distress surrounding the deaths of infants
BackgroundAs Korean neonatal nurses frequently experience the deaths of infants, moral distress occurs when they provide end-of-life care to the infants and their families. Although they need to care for the patients’ deaths and consequently experience burnout and turnover due to moral distress from...
| Authors: | ; ; |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sage
2023
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| In: |
Nursing ethics
Year: 2023, Volume: 30, Issue: 2, Pages: 276-287 |
| Further subjects: | B
End-of-life
B Nursing B Ethical Dilemma B Neonatal intensive care B Moral Distress B infants and families |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | BackgroundAs Korean neonatal nurses frequently experience the deaths of infants, moral distress occurs when they provide end-of-life care to the infants and their families. Although they need to care for the patients’ deaths and consequently experience burnout and turnover due to moral distress from the situation, there is a lack of a support for nurses. Moreover, not much information is available on the moral distress of neonatal nurses. There is a need to better understand Korean neonatal nurses’ moral distress to develop and implement appropriate supports.ObjectiveThis study aimed to describe nurses’ experience of moral distress when they provide end-of-life care to infants and their families in neonatal intensive care units.Research designThis is a secondary analysis qualitative study. Content analysis was performed based on Corley’s theory of moral distress to develop a codebook and identify themes regarding moral distress among the nurses.Participants and research contextQualitative data were collected from 20 nurses working in two NICUs in Seoul, South Korea.Ethical considerationsThe original study obtained permission from a university’s institutional review board (IRB). This secondary analysis study obtained the exemption from another university’s IRB. Nurses’ participation was voluntary and confidential.FindingsThe nurses’ moral distress was derived when they faced moral constraints and/or moral conflicts. Two distinct categories of moral constraints and four distinct categories of moral conflicts were identified among the neonatal nurses. In addition, impacts of moral distress on patients and nurses were identified.ConclusionsThis study identified occasions neonatal nurses experience moral distress, and thus can guide in developing and implementing effective interventions to decrease their moral distress and improve their resilience in end-of-life care by providing insight into neonatal nurses’ needs for support in end-of-life care. |
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| ISSN: | 1477-0989 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Nursing ethics
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/09697330221134978 |