Ethical Dilemmas in Nursing Practice in an Obstetric Department: A Qualitative study

Abstract

This phenomenological qualitative study aimed to study the definition of ethical dilemmas among nurses in obstetric departments at   five hospital-based clinical practice sites for nursing students in the Bachelor of Nursing program. Key informants included 20 registered nurses selected by snowball sampling. The research instruments included the researcher, a demographic data sheet, semi-structured interview questions, and field notes. In-depth interviews with the informants were audio recorded for data collection. Content analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data.

The findings showed that the ethical dilemmas in nursing practice in the obstetric ward included:                  1) Non-maleficence issues (Maternal complications, maternal death, fetal injury, and fetal death), 2) problems with communication about treatment between nurses and patients and between nurses and other health team personnel, 3)aA lack of respect for the person's individuality, and 4) a lack of competence to solve ethical problems among the nurses. Furthermore, the management of the ethical dilemmas included: 1) health care system reforms (health care personnel, equipment and referral system, 2) developing nurses' competency in ethical decision-making, and 3) increasing awareness of respect for the human rights of service providers. The findings will benefit obstetrics nurses who should increase their awareness of standardized nursing practices, as well as increase their capacity to prevent and resolve future ethical problems in obstetrics.