Intensive care unit nurses' opinions about euthanasia.
This study was conducted to gain opinions about euthanasia from nurses who work in intensive care units. The research was planned as a descriptive study and conducted with 186 nurses who worked in intensive care units in a university hospital, a public hospital, and a private not-for-profit hospital in Adana, Turkey, and who agreed to complete a questionnaire. Euthanasia is not legal in Turkey. One third (33.9%) of the nurses supported the legalization of euthanasia, whereas 39.8% did not. In some specific circumstances, 44.1% of the nurses thought that euthanasia was being practiced in our country. The most significant finding was that these Turkish intensive care unit nurses did not overwhelmingly support the legalization of euthanasia. Those who did support it were inclined to agree with passive rather than active euthanasia (P = 0.011).
Kumaş
Gülşah
G
Cukurova University, Adana Health Sciences School, Nursing Division, Adana, Turkey.
Oztunç
Gürsel
G
Nazan Alparslan
Z
Z
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003422:Critical Care / Q000941:ethics* / Q000458:organization & administration; D005065:Euthanasia / Q000941:ethics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006291:Health Policy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006779:Hospitals, Public; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006788:Hospitals, Voluntary; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000941:ethics / Q000458:organization & administration; D024802:Nurse's Role / Q000523:psychology; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000193:education / Q000941:ethics / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology*; D016134:Organizational Policy; D028701:Patient Rights / Q000941:ethics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D012944:Social Support; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014421:Turkey