Ethical challenges and action alternatives: Case reflections in ambulance care
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| Title: | Ethical challenges and action alternatives: Case reflections in ambulance care |
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| Authors: | Bennesved, Anna, Bremer, Anders, Svensson, Anders, Rantala, Andreas, Holmberg, Mats, Björk, Joar |
| Contributors: | Lund University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Health Sciences, Integrative Health Research, Lunds universitet, Medicinska fakulteten, Institutionen för hälsovetenskaper, Hälsa i ett tvärvetenskapligt perspektiv, Originator |
| Source: | Nursing Ethics. :1-16 |
| Subject Terms: | Medical and Health Sciences, Health Sciences, Nursing, Medicin och hälsovetenskap, Hälsovetenskap, Omvårdnad |
| Description: | Background Ambulance clinicians regularly encounter medical, caring, existential and ethical challenges. Meeting patients with complex medical presentations underscore the need for holistic decision-making and actions as ambulance clinicians struggle to strike a balance between addressing medical and caring needs. Aim This study aimed to explore action alternatives considered and discussed during ethics case reflections in response to care-related challenges in ambulance services. Research design A qualitative descriptive study design was applied. Data were analyzed using conventional and summative content analysis. Participants and research context Ethics case reflections were performed with 14 groups comprising a total of 78 ambulance clinicians. Prior to the reflections, a video depicting the encounter between two ambulance clinicians and an older patient and his spouse was viewed. Ethical considerations The principles of the Declaration of Helsinki were applied throughout the research process, and an advisory statement was obtained from the Swedish Ethical Review Authority (No. 2019-02127 and 2021-03490). Findings The ethics case reflections generated a variety and breadth of action alternatives to manage challenges in caring, suggesting that this format is suitable for discussing ethical issues in clinical cases that depart from standard medical emergencies. Furthermore, the breadth of the results reveals the wide professional discretion afforded to ambulance clinicians and suggest the presence of tacit competences embedded in professional practice. Conclusions Ethics case reflection has a potential to enhance ambulance clinicians’ ethical decision-making by deepening reflections about patient autonomy as well as highlighting the potential for a caring approach and promoting holistic care. By generating a breadth of specific action alternatives, many possible ways forward even in situations with complex care-related challenges are illustrated. Further investigation regarding the role of ethics case reflections to articulate implicit attitudes and tacit competencies is warranted. |
| Access URL: | https://doi.org/10.1177/096973302514031 |
| Database: | SwePub |
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