RT Article
T1 Tracking shame and humiliation in Accident and Emergency
JF Nursing philosophy
VO 12
IS 2
SP 83
OP 93
A1 Sanders, Karen
A1 Pattison, Stephen
A1 Hurwitz, Brian
A2 Pattison, Stephen
A2 Hurwitz, Brian
LA English
YR 2011
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1925871002
AB In this paper, we reflect upon shame and humiliation as threats to personal and professional integrity and moral agency within contemporary health care. A personal narrative, written by a nurse about a particular shift in a British National Health Service Accident and Emergency Department, is provided as a case study. This is critically reflected and commented upon in dialogue with insights into the nature of shame and humiliation. It is suggested that Accident and Emergency is a locus that is latently prone to dynamics of shame and humiliation, a potential exacerbated within a culture subject to externally-determined time targets that are enforced by a top-down system of surveillance and management. The result is that nurses may lose their sense of professional competence and responsibility, moral agency, and integrity, to their own personal detriment, as well as to the detriment of patients with whom they work. Insofar as examining a small part of a whole may suggest insights into the operation and ethos of a very large system, this very particular case study narrative/reflection has some important implications and lessons for the wider organization and provision of health care in Britain and beyond.
K1 Ethics
K1 Guilt
K1 Humiliation
K1 Moral Agency
K1 Nursing
K1 Shame
DO 10.1111/j.1466-769X.2010.00480.x