Exploring Ghanaian nurses knowledge and application of bio-ethical principles in postoperative pain management

Abstract

Managing postoperative pain require good understanding of the bio-ethical principles in order to preserve patients’ rights. Bio-ethical principles in health care include autonomy, beneficence, justice and nonmaleficence. It is important that health care professionals understand that patients in pain have the right to satisfactory management. Good insight on ethical principles and how they relate to pain management places the nurse on a better pedestal to manage postoperative pain effectively. However, there is scanty literature on the level of Ghanaian nurses’ knowledge and application of bio-ethical principles in postoperative pain management. Therefore, the study objectives were to: explore nurses’ understanding of the bio-ethical principles in postoperative pain management; explore how nurses apply bioethical principles in postoperative pain management. The study employed qualitative exploratory descriptive design. Purposive sampling technique was used to recruit participants from the surgical wards. Semi-structured interview guide was designed for data collection. Data saturation was reached at the fourteenth participant. Thematic analysis method was used and themes emerged inductively. Three main themes identified through inductive content analysis of data were: beneficence, autonomy and justice. Findings showed that nurses had some appreciable level of knowledge of the fundamental principles related to ethics and applied them in postoperative pain management. Nurses knew their duties in advocating for patients. Patients rights to refuse treatment was also appreciated by some nurses. Nurses also demonstrated humanity by helping patients financially to settle hospital debts which explicitly shows the empathetic characteristics of nurses. The study concluded that nurses are knowledgeable in bioethical principles underpinning post operative pain management and also applied these principles when caring for surgical patients.

Moral caring competency and moral distress among Ghanaian nurses in adult care settings: A descriptive-correlational study

“…The research conducted by Pathman et al ( 2022 ) and Ulrich et al ( 2014 ) demonstrated that American nurses (44%) possess a high level of moral readiness and confidence, which resulted in a low level of moral distress. On the other hand, lower-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa, such as Ghana (Tia et al, 2022 ), Ethiopia (Miljeteig et al, 2019 ), Tanzania (Aboud et al, 2014 ), and Nigeria (Ulrich et al, 2010 ), nurses experienced moral distress in moderate to high levels.…”

“…Differing cultural backgrounds can impact moral practices and standards in healthcare (Wright et al, 1997 ). Therefore, to deliver moral and individualized care, nurses are encouraged to incorporate the patient and family’s cultural beliefs, values, and needs into their nursing practice (Tia et al, 2022 ).…”

“…The objective of the code of ethics is to make Ghanaian nurses aware of the highest standard needed to fulfill their professional obligation regarding the key ethical principles. However, Tia et al ( 2022 ) noted a surge of growing public concern regarding the moral practices of Ghanaian nurses due to increased moral distress. This often manifests in accusations and complaints regarding unethical behavior and a growing trend of lawsuits against Ghanaian nurse professionals (Boafo, 2016 ; Moodley et al, 2020 ).…”

The relationship between the ethical attitudes and holistic competence levels of intensive care nurses: A cross-sectional study

“…Nursing competency requires providing safe and high-quality nursing care by ethical principles. These ethical principles in nursing can be ranked as autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, veracity, confidentiality, justice, and fidelity [ 10 , 11 ].…”