Korean Journal of Medical Ethics

The Korean Society for Medical Ethics

Korean J Med Ethics 2012; 15(2):219-230

pISSN: 2005-8284, eISSN: 2234-3598

DOI: https://doi.org/10.35301/ksme.2012.15.2.219

Article

응급실 간호사의 윤리적 어려움*

최귀순¹, 이경숙²^,^*, 함미영³

Nurses’ Ethical Difficulties in Emergency Department*

Kwisoon CHOE¹, Kyoung Sook LEE²^,^*, Mi Young HAM³

¹국립 군산대학교 간호학과

²중앙대학교 간호학과

³신흥대학교 간호학과

¹Department of Nursing, Kunsan National University

²Department of Nursing, Chung-Ang University

³College of Nursing, Shinheung College

^*교신저자: 이경숙. 중앙대학교 간호학과. 02-820-5678. dhsvnd@hanmail.net

ⓒ Copyright 2012 The Korean Society for Medical Ethics. This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Received: Jul 19, 2012; Accepted: Aug 23, 2012

Published Online: Aug 31, 2012

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to explore the ethical difficulties experienced by emergency department nurses in hospital settings. Data were collected using in-depth interviews with a purposive sample of 12 nurses working in emergency department. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed using inductive thematic analysis to identify ethical difficulties. Four themes were emerged from the qualitative data: difficulty of advocacy for patients’ good, ethical disagreement, ethical immaturity, and ethical stress. This study will provide a theoretical basis for developing ethical guidelines that enable emergency room nurses to make decision ethically.

Keywords: 응급실; 간호; 생명윤리; 환자 옹호; 질적 연구

Keywords: emergency department; nursing; bioethics; patient advocacy; qualitative research