Ethical and Moral Conflicts in the Nursing Care of Pediatric Patients With Cancer and Their Families.

Abstract

Pediatric oncology nurses encounter ethical and moral dilemmas when providing comprehensive care to pediatric patients with cancer and their families. The aim of this study was to explore ethical and moral conflicts arising in the field of pediatric oncology from the perspective of nursing professionals. This qualitative secondary analysis was conducted with 10 nursing professionals from a pediatric cancer hospital through semistructured interviews and analyzed using thematic data analysis. Two themes emerged: (1) living with conflicts intrinsic to the relationships , which describes multiple sources of conflict in the relationships of nursing professionals with the team, with the family, and with seriously ill children, summarizing trigger-sensitive topics to be addressed for its mediation; (2) developing moral resilience , which represents how nurses reframe the conflicts and make use of strategies to avoid being personally harmful. The results highlight the challenging work environment of pediatric oncology, recognizing the multiple natures of sensitive topics to nursing professionals during clinical decision making and the incipient strategies in dealing with ethical and moral conflicts. This study reveals self-reflection and intuitive strategies as protective factors, which could be applied as a step to support nurses encountering ethical and moral conflicts in pediatric oncology daily practice. Furthermore, because of the limited support services for nursing professionals, it is necessary to foresee institutional policies to embrace the development of moral resilience.