A genealogy of what nurses know about ‘the good death’: A socio‐materialist perspective

Rushton, Carole; Edvardsson, David

doi:10.1111/nup.12365

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 72 publications

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“…Typically, prior to the pandemic, nurses globally accommodated the constant presence of numerous loved ones throughout anticipated in‐patient end‐of‐life care in their aspiration to ensure a good death for patients (Rushton & Edvardsson, 2021). However, lockdowns and social distancing policies radically altered these practices internationally (Gallagher, 2021; Spacey et al, 2021; Vellani et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Good death disrupted: Nurses' moral emotions navigating clinical and public health ethics during the first wave of COVID‐19 pandemic

Mowat

Cook

Chapman

et al. 2023

Journal of Clinical Nursing

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AimTo explore the moral emotions that frontline nurses navigated in endeavouring to ensure a ‘good death’ for hospital patients and care home residents during the first wave of the COVID‐19 pandemic.BackgroundUnder normal circumstances, frontline staff are focused on clinical ethics, which foreground what is best for individuals and families. Public health crises such as a pandemic require staff to adapt rapidly to focus on what benefits communities, at times compromising individual well‐being and autonomy. Visitor restrictions when people were dying provided vivid exemplars of this ethical shift and the moral emotions nurses encountered with the requirement to implement this change.MethodsTwenty‐nine interviews were conducted with nurses in direct clinical care roles. Data were analysed thematically informed by the theoretical concepts of a good death and moral emotions.ResultsThe data set highlighted that moral emotions such as sympathy, empathy, distress and guilt were integral to the decisions participants described in striving for a good palliative experience. Four themes were identified in the data analysis: nurses as gatekeepers; ethical tensions and rule bending; nurses as proxy family members; separation and sacrifice.ConclusionsParticipants reflected on morally compromising situations and highlighted agency through emotionally satisfying workarounds and collegial deliberations that enabled them to believe that they were party to painful but morally justifiable decisions.Implications for the profession and patient careNurses are required to implement national policy changes that may disrupt notions of best practice and therefore be experienced as a moral wrong. In navigating the moral emotions accompanying this shift, nurses benefit from compassionate leadership and ethics education to support team cohesion enabling nurses to prevail.Public contributionTwenty‐nine frontline registered nurses participated in the qualitative interviews that inform this study.Reporting methodThe study adhered to the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research checklist.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Good death disrupted: Nurses' moral emotions navigating clinical and public health ethics during the first wave of COVID‐19 pandemic

Mowat

Cook

Chapman

et al. 2023

Journal of Clinical Nursing

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Exploring health inequities through the actor‐network theory lens

Fisher,

Tulloch,

Petrovskaya

2024

Nursing Philosophy

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Social theory plays an important role in the nursing discipline and nursing inquiry as it helps conceptually embed nursing in the larger picture of the social world. For example, a broad category of critical theory provides a unique lens for uncovering social conditions of inequity and oppression. Among the sociological theories, actor‐network theory (ANT) is an approach to research and analysis that has recently gained interest among nurse philosophers and researchers. Studies guided by ANT seek to understand phenomena of interest as constituted within the relationships between human and nonhuman actors to understand how care practices are co‐created/enacted and how they can be made more humane. In this paper, we describe the benefits of ANT for examining healthcare access for incarcerated individuals with life‐limiting illnesses accessing palliative care and for people using illicit drugs. We argue that attention to the materiality of care practices can contribute to efforts of advancing health equity for these groups.

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Ethical issues arising from the assisted dying debate

Holt

2022

Nursing Standard

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A genealogy of what nurses know about ‘the good death’: A socio‐materialist perspective

Cited by 3 publications

References 72 publications

Good death disrupted: Nurses' moral emotions navigating clinical and public health ethics during the first wave of COVID‐19 pandemic

Good death disrupted: Nurses' moral emotions navigating clinical and public health ethics during the first wave of COVID‐19 pandemic

Exploring health inequities through the actor‐network theory lens

Ethical issues arising from the assisted dying debate

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