Turkish nurses’ decision making in the distribution of intensive care beds

The aim of this study was to assess the opinions and role of intensive care unit (ICU) nurses regarding the distribution of ICU beds. We conducted this research among 30% of the attendees at two ICU congresses in Turkey. A self-administered questionnaire was used, which included 13 cases and allocat...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nursing ethics 2010-01, Vol.17 (1), p.87-98
Main Authors: Ersoy, Nermin, Akpinar, Aslihan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Admissions
Adult
Critical care
Decision making
Decision Making - ethics
Education
Ethics, Nursing
Female
Health care policy
Health Care Rationing - ethics
Health Care Surveys
Hospital Bed Capacity
Humans
Intensive care
Intensive care units
Intensive Care Units - ethics
Male
Medical ethics
Middle Aged
Mortality
Nurses
Nursing
Nursing care
Organizational Policy
Patient Admission
Patient Discharge
Patients rights
Quality of life
Questionnaires
Social Justice
Turkey
Values
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The aim of this study was to assess the opinions and role of intensive care unit (ICU) nurses regarding the distribution of ICU beds. We conducted this research among 30% of the attendees at two ICU congresses in Turkey. A self-administered questionnaire was used, which included 13 cases and allocation criteria. Of the total (136 nurses), 53.7% participated in admission/discharge decisions. The most important criterion was quality of life as viewed by the physician; the least important was the patient’s social status. According to the findings, the nurses thought that medical benefit and avoiding discrimination were important. On the other hand their ignorance of patients’ autonomous preferences arouses suspicions about these nurses’ role in advocating for patients’ rights. For this reason, nurses’ role in allocation decisions should be clearly described and should also be the basis on which intensive care nurses’ duties in allocation decisions should be determined.
ISSN:0969-7330
1477-0989
DOI:10.1177/0969733009349992