Residents' rights and nurses' ethics in the Australian nursing home.
BACKGROUND
This article is derived from a more extensive review of literature for a qualitative study that explored the meaning of truth-telling within the care provider--aged resident dyad in high-level (nursing home) aged care.


OBJECTIVE
This paper describes through the literature, work practices and the culture of the nursing home as promoting instrumental care, therefore prioritizing doing-for over being-with. The nursing home, starved of time and staff, silences and isolates the aged care resident in an environment that is, arguably, rarely homelike.


CONCLUSIONS
The appraisal of the nursing home offered here means that a number of residents' rights are at risk and care providers (notably registered nurses and the personal care assistants) risk contravening the Code of Ethics for Nurses in Australia.
Tuckett
A G
AG
School of Nursing, The University of Queensland, Ipswich, Queensland 4102, Australia. a.tuckett@uq.edu.au
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001315:Australia; D032781:Codes of Ethics; D004993:Ethics, Nursing; D006707:Homes for the Aged; D006801:Humans; D009735:Nursing Homes; D028701:Patient Rights; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling