Ethical issues in Home-Care Nursing

Abstract

This paper aims to clarify ethical issues in Home-Care Nursing. The data were collected for 114 subjects (male and female nurses) who usually work in Home-Care Nursing, by using a questionnaire. The results of the research were as follows:(a) In the cases mentioned in 10 items among 19 in the questions, more than half of the subjects reported to have experienced ethical issues. The result suggests that most of the nurses encounter ethical issues in their daily in Home-Care Nursing. (b) About 18 issues out of 19 items raised in the questions, 70% of the subjects reported they were worried about the ethical issues when they experienced them. (c) Among 5 types of classification on ethical issues, many respondents experienced ethical issues in "the situation where nurses are in trouble when there is a gap between the intention of the clients and that of their nurses'" and "the situation where nurses are in trouble when there is a gap between the intention of clients and that of their family's." The results suggest that nurses often encounter ethical issues and many of them are caught in a dilemma. We suggest that nurses need to increase their ability to make ethical decisions and that a problem-solving system for ethical issues is needed.