ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Paediatric nurses often face complex situations requiring decisions that sometimes clash with their own values and beliefs, or with the needs of the children they care for and their families. Paediatric nurses often use new technology that changes the way they provide care, but also reduces their direct interaction with the child. This may generate ethical issues, which nurses should be able to address in the full respect of the child. Research question and objectives: The purpose of this review is to describe the main ethical dimensions of paediatric nursing. Our research question was, 'What are the most common ethical dimensions and competences related to paediatric nursing?' RESEARCH DESIGN: A rapid evidence assessment. METHOD: According to the principles of the rapid evidence assessment, we searched the PubMed, SCOPUS and CINAHL databases for papers published between January 2001 and March 2015. These papers were then independently read by two researchers and analysed according to the inclusion criteria. Ethical considerations: Since this was a rapid evidence assessment, no approval from the ethics committee was required. FINDINGS: Ten papers met our inclusion criteria. Ethical issues in paediatric nursing were grouped into three areas: (a) ethical issues in paediatric care, (b) social responsibility and (c) decision-making process. CONCLUSION: Few studies investigate the ethical dimensions and aspects of paediatric nursing, and they are mainly qualitative studies conducted in critical care settings based on nurses' perceptions and experiences. Paediatric nurses require specific educational interventions to help them resolve ethical issues, contribute to the decision-making process and fulfil their role as advocates of a vulnerable population (i.e. sick children and their families). Further research is needed to investigate how paediatric nurses can improve the involvement of children and their families in decision-making processes related to their care plan.
Subject(s)
Pediatric Nursing/ethics , Child , Clinical Competence , Humans , Social ResponsibilityABSTRACT
Many faculty argue that theory and theorizing are closely related to the clinical practice, that the disciplinary knowledge grows, more relevantly, from the specific care context in which it takes place and, moreover, that knowledge does not proceed only by the application of general principles of the grand theories to specific cases. Every nurse, in fact, have a mental model, of what may or may not be aware, that motivate and substantiate every action and choice of career. The study describes what the nursing theoretical model is; the mental model and the tacit knowledge underlying it. It identifies the explicit theoretical model of the professional group that rapresents nursing partecipants, aspects of continuity with the theoretical model proposed by this degree course in Nursing.. Methods Four focus groups were made which were attended by a total of 22 nurses, rapresentatives of almost every Unit of Reggio Emilia Hospital's. We argue that the theoretical nursing model of each professional group is the result of tacit knowledge, which help to define the personal mental model, and the theoretical model, which explicitly underlying theoretical content learned applied consciously and reverted to / from nursing practice. Reasoning on the use of theory in practice has allowed us to give visibility to a theoretical model explicitly nursing authentically oriented to the needs of the person, in all its complexity in specific contexts.
