Culture is learned behavior shared among members of a group and from generation to generation within that group. In health care work, references to "culture" may also function as code for ethical uncertainty or moral distress concerning patients, families, or populations. This paper analyzes how culture can be a factor in patient-care situations that produce moral distress. It discusses three c...

Background and Objectives: Among ultimate goals in the nursing profession are health promotion, disease prevention, and respect for patient rights. In case they are not fulfilled, it can lead to nurses’ moral distress, which can have adverse effects on nurses, patients, and the health system. On the other hand, awareness of this concept and its management can help nurses to solve and mana...

Psychopathy is a personality variable associated with persistent immoral behaviors. Despite this, attempts to link moral reasoning deficits to psychopathic traits have yielded mixed results with many findings supporting intact moral reasoning in individuals with psychopathic traits. Abundant evidence shows that psychopathy impairs responses to others' emotional distress. However, most studies o...

922 Purpose/Objectives: To explore the topic of moral distress in nurses related to witnessing futile care. Data Sources: Literature related to moral distress and futility; analysis of narratives written by 108 nurses attending one of two national continuing education courses on end-of-life care regarding their experiences in the area. Data Synthesis: Nurses were invited to share a clinical sit...

Good documentation does not necessarily equate to good care. This article explores the potential underpinnings of poor documentation from an ethical decision-making lens. Nursing standards of care related to documentation are reviewed. The internal and external constraints of moral distress are considered, as is moral residue. Finally, the roles of the nurse administrator as well as specific re...

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES To explore the topic of moral distress in nurses related to witnessing futile care. DATA SOURCES Literature related to moral distress and futility; analysis of narratives written by 108 nurses attending one of two national continuing education courses on end-of-life care regarding their experiences in the area. DATA SYNTHESIS Nurses were invited to share a clinical situat...

This article explores nurses' decision-making related to the administration of PRN anti-seizure medications to children with long-term seizure disorders in palliative care. Hermeneutic phenomenological inquiry guided by van Manen's approach was the method used. Six nurses participated in interviews. Data analysis revealed that not on my watch was the overarching theme in which nurses engaged in...

I suggest that we may want to strive, over time, to change our present professional-cultural view, from one that sees an expression of moral distress as a threat, to a professional-cultural view that welcomes these challenges. Such an effort to better medicine would not only include dissenting clinicians, but patients (and their loved ones) as well.