| Learning Objective #1: Gain an understanding and appreciation for the research method of interpretive phenomenology in obtaining rich, descriptive clinical data | |||
| Learning Objective #2: Gain insight into the type of ethical issues bone marrow transplant nurses face in practice and strategies for addressing the social and organizational structures that hinder nurses' ethical practice |
Objective The purpose of this research was to render a detailed description of individual nurses ethical perspectives on nursing patients undergoing a bone marrow transplant.
Design The study was conducted using the research method of interpretive phenomenology.
Population, Sample, Setting Participants were accrued through the bone marrow transplant unit of a large adult tertiary care teaching hospital in Eastern Canada. Seven female nurses between the ages of 25-50 years and with 6-15 years of bone marrow transplant nursing participated.
Methods Participants were asked through one-on-one interviews to describe situations in which they felt they were faced with an ethical/moral question or problem. The data analysis followed a framework of interpretive phenomenology as outlined by Benner (1994).
Findings The nurses described a variety of situational constraints embedded in the hospital environment that influenced their ability to act in a manner consistent with their moral values. The sense of being constrained from enacting their moral agency generated a variety of negative emotions within the nurses. In the absence of mechanisms to help address the situations and/or manage the feelings that the situations evoked, it is evident from their stories that the moral anguish nurses experience is likely compromising patient care, the civility of the work environment, and is contributing to rates of nurse burnout.
Implications This study has implications for nursing practice, education and research. The written description can assist in generating thought and ongoing dialogue on this topic and can be used to augment the study of formal ethical principles and theories with the added benefit of ensuring the nurses’ taken-for-granted moral or ethical insights and meanings will not be lost. This research also provides the basis for further investigations into the contextual factors that influence nurses’ moral practice and the long-term consequences of unresolved moral anguish.
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