The Relationship Between Moral Distress and Futile Care in the Critical Care Unit.

Ethical conflicts and their characteristics among critical care nurses

“…However, previous studies about moral distress have shown correlations between sex, 48 age 18 and type of ICUs 49 with high levels of moral distress. Consistent with other studies, 2,5,26,36,44,50 –52 the variables having ever thought about leaving the service due to overload or stress, being in an environment that is favourable to making ethical decisions and having the availability to participate more actively in these decisions correlated with exposure to types of ethical conflict. All the above show that ethical conflict, despite being an individual phenomenon, can be influenced by certain characteristics of the professionals’ working environment.…”

“…These findings are consistent with those of other authors. 2,12,23,26,28,38,48 The specific situation of witnessing the failure of analgesic treatment to control pain in critical patients revealed itself again as a frequent situation that generated high levels of conflict. However, few studies in nursing ethics and critical care nursing identify this specific situation; they place a greater emphasis on dilemmatic situations related to therapeutic futility, despite the latter not being common ICU context.…”

“…Most of these studies have focused until now on situations that generate moral distress in the context of ICUs because of critical patients’ special vulnerability and ICUs’ specific choice of therapeutic options. 2,5,23 –28…”