Pediatric nurses’ ethical difficulties in the bedside care of children

Abstract

Background: Pediatric nurses experience ethically difficult situations in their everyday work. Several studies have been conducted to reveal ethical issues among pediatric nurses; we do not think their ethical difficulties have been explored sufficiently from their own perspective. Objectives: This study aimed to explore the ethical difficulties faced by pediatric nurses during bedside care for hospitalized children. Methods: A phenomenological approach was used to collect and analyze interview data from 14 female pediatric nurses in South Korea. Ethical considerations: Ethical review was obtained from an ethics committee. The participants were informed about the aim of the study, and voluntary participation, anonymous response, and confidentiality were explained to them. Findings: Three themes emerged from the analysis: ethical numbness in a task-oriented context, negative feelings toward family caregivers, and difficulty in expressing oneself in an authoritative climate. Conclusion and implications: We need to develop strategies to manage ethical difficulties at an institutional level. Furthermore, it is important that pediatric nurses have the opportunity to communicate with fellow nurses and other medical staff regarding ethical difficulties. In addition, cultivation of pediatric nurses’ moral, ethical, and philosophical thinking patterns requires the immediate provision of continuous education in nursing ethics at the site of clinical nursing, time to discuss ethical difficulties, and other supportive measures. Findings indicated that, to provide high-quality patient-centered care, we should enhance nurses’ ethical sensitivity and autonomy and improve the ethical climate in hospitals.