Abstract
There is a lack of studies on ethical responsibility in nursing. Nurses experience ethical responsibility in all settings where patients are exposed and vulnerable. The authors’ interest in public health and intensive care nursing provided a motivation to study these settings. The study aimed to explore how intensive care and public health nurses experience ethical responsibility. A qualitative design was chosen and 10 individual interviews were carried out. The data were analysed using hermeneutic phenomenological analysis. The study is reported in accordance with COREQ. Levinasian ethics provided the theoretical framework. The analysis resulted in four themes: Feeling alone, Feeling worried and uncertain, A sense of satisfaction, A personal commitment. Even though the settings differed, experiences of aspects of ethical responsibility were the same. Further in-depth studies in different settings can enhance an understanding of moral responsibility and facilitate the development of a theory of ethical responsibility in nursing practice.
Highlights
Ethical responsibility is fundamental in all nursing practice
The participants spoke about ethical issues and responsibilities in their work as public health nurses and intensive care nurses
Both nursing groups felt that they lacked a suitable setting for ethical reflection and that they had no formal meeting points to discuss ethical issues with colleagues, leaders, and supervisors. They spoke of the loneliness of their responsibility and a need for greater focus on ethical dilemmas related to interdisciplinary collaboration
Summary
Ethical responsibility is fundamental in all nursing practice. Nursing values and responsibilities are guided by a professional code of ethics.[1]. The face, in Levinasian terms, is an important metaphor for human vulnerability, a vulnerability that reaches out and demands our response.[4] The face is not necessarily a physical face as we know it; the appeal that demands a response can come from other body parts, such as the nape of the neck or even the untidy hair of a teenage boy.[4] According to Levinas, ethical responsibility for the Other is not something we choose or can explain It is personal, and we are faced with a demand that we cannot avoid, ignore, or transfer.[2] According to Levinas, we are prisoners in our responsibility for others; we are commanded to respond.[2,3,4] Ethical responsibility is, in this sense, asymmetrical. This is a different understanding of asymmetry than the traditional understanding of asymmetry in power structures in healthcare settings
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