International Practice Development Journal

 

Title of ArticleThe nursing contribution to ethical decision making
Type of ArticleCritical Reflection on Practice Development
Author/sBarbara Dinten-Schmid, Liliane Stoffel, Diana Staudacher, Jane McDougall, Ruth Baumann-Hölzle and Rebecca Spirig
ReferenceVolume 6, Issue 2, Article 10
Date of PublicationNovember 2016
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.19043/ipdj.62.010
Keywordsassessment, decision making, empowerment, ethics, neonatal nursing, practice development

Background: In the neonatal care units of the University Hospitals of Zurich and Bern, the nurse´s role in ethical decision-making is well established. However, nurses often reported uncertainty with regard to introducing the premature infant’s situation from the nursing perspective in ethics rounds.

Aims: To empower neonatal nurses in fulfilling their role in the multiprofessional decision-making process, we performed a practice development project. On the basis of the Iowa model we developed a checklist for presenting the nursing history of premature infants in an ethically competent and responsible way.

Conclusions: The ‘checklist for nursing assessment in the context of ethical decision-making’, equips nurses for their professional contribution to ethics rounds, making them better prepared to present the nursing perspective in a structured and thorough manner.

Implications for practice:

  • The Iowa model supports practice development even with limited data availability
  • The instrument invigorates the neonatal nurse´s role in the multiprofessional ethical decision-making process
  • It is crucial to involve peers in practice development

https://doi.org/10.19043/ipdj.62.010

 

This article by Barbara Dinten-Schmid, Liliane Stoffel, Diana Staudacher, Jane McDougall, Ruth Baumann-Hölzle and Rebecca Spirig is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 3.0 License.

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