Finnish Nurses’ Views on End-of-Life Discussions and a Comparison with Physicians’ Views

This study investigated Finnish nurses’ experiences and views on end-of-life decision making and compared them with physicians’ views. For this purpose, a questionnaire was sent to 800 nurses, of which 51% responded. Most of the nurses had a positive attitude towards and respect for living wills, mo...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Hildén, Hanna-Mari (Author) ; Louhiala, Pekka (Author) ; Honkasalo, Marja-Liisa (Author) ; Palo, Jorma (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage 2004
In: Nursing ethics
Year: 2004, Volume: 11, Issue: 2, Pages: 165-178
Further subjects:B nurse-patient relationship
B Living Wills
B end-of-life decisions
B DNR orders
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:This study investigated Finnish nurses’ experiences and views on end-of-life decision making and compared them with physicians’ views. For this purpose, a questionnaire was sent to 800 nurses, of which 51% responded. Most of the nurses had a positive attitude towards and respect for living wills, more often than physicians. Most also believed that a will had an effect on decision making. Almost all of the nurses considered it their responsibility to talk to physicians about respecting living wills. Do-not-resuscitate (DNR) orders were often interpreted to imply partial or complete palliative (symptom-orientated) care, which may cause confusion. Half of the nurses reported that a DNR decision was discussed always or often with a patient who was able to communicate; physicians were more positive in this respect. Surprisingly, many nurses (44%) stated that active treatment continued too long. Two-thirds thought that their opinions were taken into account sufficiently, even though only half believed that, in general, they had some impact.
ISSN:1477-0989
Contains:Enthalten in: Nursing ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1191/0969733004ne681oa