Indian Nurses' Attitudes Toward Euthanasia: Gender Differences.

The debate about euthanasia continues worldwide, with nurses' attitudes becoming increasingly more important. The aim of this study is to investigate gender differences among nurses' perceptions of attitudes toward euthanasia. A nonprobability quantitative, cross-sectional design was carried out among nurses working at a tertiary care center. Data were collected through self-reported questionnaires at their work place. Significant differences were found between men and women to the items such as "Fear of death shows differences due to religious beliefs" (χ2 = 10.550, p < 0.05), "If patient wants euthanasia, nutrition support should be stopped" (χ2 = 12.209, p < 0.05), "CPR should not be applied in case of sudden respiration and heart stop" (χ2 = 9.591, p < 0.05), and "burden for relatives to take care of a patient who is in terminal period and who will die" (χ2 = 9.069, p < 0.05). The present study depicts that gender plays an important role in euthanasia; hence, the researchers strongly suggest that there is an urgent need to draft uniform guidelines after wide consultation with all the stake holders regarding nurses' role in taking care of patients who request euthanasia, to face these situations effectively and competently within professional boundaries.

Admission experiences of psychiatric patients in tertiary care: An implication toward Mental Health Care Bill, 2013.

BACKGROUND: Coercion is not uncommon phenomenon among mental health service users during their admission into psychiatric hospital. Research on perceived coercion of psychiatric patients is limited from India. AIM: To investigate perceived coercion of psychiatric patients during admission into a tertiary care psychiatric hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional descriptive survey carried out among randomly selected psychiatric patients (n = 205) at a tertiary care center. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews using structured questionnaire. RESULTS: Our findings revealed that participants experienced low levels of coercion during their admission process. However, a majority of the participants were threatened with commitment (71.7%) as well as they were sad (67.8%), unpleased (69.7%), confused (73.2%), and frightened (71.2%) with regard to hospitalization into a psychiatric hospital. In addition, the participants expressed higher levels of negative pressures (mean ± standard deviation, 3.76 ± 2.12). Participants those were admitted involuntarily (P > 0.001), diagnosed to be having psychotic disorders (P > 0.003), and unmarried (P > 0.04) perceived higher levels of coercion. CONCLUSION: The present study showed that more formal coercion was experienced by the patients those got admitted involuntarily. On the contrary, participants with voluntary admission encountered informal coercion (negative pressures). There is an urgent need to modify the Mental Health Care (MHC) Bill so that treatment of persons with mental illness is facilitated. Family member plays an important role in providing MHC; hence, they need to be empowered.