Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Nursing Ethics
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Cronqvist, A.
Right arrow Articles by Lützén, K.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Cronqvist, A.
Right arrow Articles by Lützén, K.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Caring About - Caring For: moral obligations and work responsibilities in intensive care nursing

Agneta Cronqvist

Karolinska Instituet, Stockholm, Sweden, agneta.cronqvist{at}euc.ersta.se

Töres Theorell

Karolinska Instituet, Stockholm, Sweden

Tom Burns

Uppsala University, Sweden

Kim Lützén

Ersta Sköndal University College, Stockholm, Sweden

The aim of this study was to analyse experiences of moral concerns in intensive care nursing. The theoretical perspective of the study is based on relational ethics, also referred to as ethics of care. The participants were 36 intensive care nurses from 10 general, neonatal and thoracic intensive care units. The structural characteristics of the units were similar: a high working pace, advanced technology, budget restrictions, recent reorganization, and shortage of experienced nurses. The data consisted of the participants’ examples of ethical situations they had experienced in their intensive care unit. A qualitative content analysis identified five themes: believing in a good death; knowing the course of events; feelings of distress; reasoning about physicians’ ‘doings’ and tensions in expressing moral awareness. A main theme was formulated as caring about - caring for: moral obligations and work responsibilities. Moral obligations and work responsibilities are assumed to be complementary dimensions in nursing, yet they were found not to be in balance for intensive care nurses. In conclusion there is a need to support nurses in difficult intensive care situations, for example, by mentoring, as a step towards developing moral action knowledge in the context of intensive care nursing.

Key Words: descriptive interpretation • ethical concerns • experiences • intensive care nurses • qualitative content analyses

Nursing Ethics, Vol. 11, No. 1, 63-76 (2004)
DOI: 10.1191/0969733004ne667oa
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Nurs EthicsHome page
A. Jensen and E. Lidell
The Influence of Conscience in Nursing
Nursing Ethics, January 1, 2009; 16(1): 31 - 42.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Nurs EthicsHome page
M. Silen, M. Svantesson, and G. Ahlstrom
Nurses' Conceptions of Decision Making Concerning Life-Sustaining Treatment
Nursing Ethics, March 1, 2008; 15(2): 160 - 173.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Nurs EthicsHome page
J. McCarthy and R. Deady
Moral Distress Reconsidered
Nursing Ethics, March 1, 2008; 15(2): 254 - 262.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Nurs EthicsHome page
S. Kalvemark Sporrong, B. Arnetz, M. G. Hansson, P. Westerholm, and A. T. Hoglund
Developing Ethical Competence in Health Care Organizations
Nursing Ethics, November 1, 2007; 14(6): 825 - 837.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Nurs EthicsHome page
A.-L. Glasberg, S. Eriksson, V. Dahlqvist, E. Lindahl, G. Strandberg, A. Soderberg, V. Sorlie, and A. Norberg
Development and Initial Validation of the Stress of Conscience Questionnaire
Nursing Ethics, November 1, 2006; 13(6): 633 - 648.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Nurs EthicsHome page
E. Verpeet, B. D. de Casterle, J. Lemiengre, and C. Gastmans
Belgian nurses' views on codes of ethics: development, dissemination, implementation.
Nursing Ethics, September 1, 2006; 13(5): 531 - 545.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Nurs EthicsHome page
S. K. Sporrong, A. T Hoglund, and B. Arnetz
Measuring Moral Distress in Pharmacy and Clinical Practice
Nursing Ethics, July 1, 2006; 13(4): 416 - 427.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Nurs EthicsHome page
L.-L. Franklin, B.-M. Ternestedt, and L. Nordenfelt
Views on Dignity of Elderly Nursing Home Residents
Nursing Ethics, March 1, 2006; 13(2): 130 - 146.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Nurs EthicsHome page
K. Lutzen, V. Dahlqvist, S. Eriksson, and A. Norberg
Developing the Concept of Moral Sensitivity in Health Care Practice
Nursing Ethics, March 1, 2006; 13(2): 187 - 196.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Nurs EthicsHome page
P. Smith and M. Lorentzon
Comment
Nursing Ethics, November 1, 2005; 12(6): 638 - 642.
[PDF]