Abstract
Much has been written about the importance of decision-making in nursing ethics, but few research studies have been completed which examine nurses' ethical decision-making. In order to address this absence of research, two concepts that are integral to nurses' ethical decision-making were analyzed: moral certainty and moral uncertainty. These concepts were studied in the context of the issue of withholding or withdrawing artificial nutrition and hydration. This issue was chosen as an exemplar of issues about which nurses feel morally certain or uncertain. The research questions addressed by this research were: (a) Are nurses morally certain or uncertain about whether artificial nutrition and hydration may be withdrawn from an elderly person in the end stages of life in long-term care? (b) If nurses are morally certain, what is the experience of this moral certainty? and (c) If nurses are morally uncertain, what is the experience of this moral uncertainty? A qualitative design was used to describe nurses' experiences of moral certainty or uncertainty.
Sigma Membership
Eta Pi
Type
Dissertation
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Phenomenology
Research Approach
Qualitative Research
Keywords:
Nursing Ethics, Nursing Decisions, Patient Care
Advisor
Marian Snyder
Second Advisor
Patricia Crisham
Degree
PhD
Degree Grantor
University of Minnesota
Degree Year
1993
Recommended Citation
Wurzbach, Mary Ellen, "The moral certainty or uncertainty of nurses regarding end-of-life treatment decisions" (2019). Dissertations. 1314.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/dissertations/1314
Rights Holder
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All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Review Type
None: Degree-based Submission
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Date of Issue
2019-05-31
Full Text of Presentation
wf_yes
Description
This dissertation has also been disseminated through the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. Dissertation/thesis number: 9407513; ProQuest document ID: 304065201. The author still retains copyright.