title: The feelings nurses and patients/families experience when faced with the need to make bioethical decisions.
abstract: This study investigates the experience of nurses and patients/families who have been personally involved in bioethical decision making and their consequent reflections on their feelings regarding the decision-making process. The method used was phenomenological. The subjects were 15 nurses, 5 patients, and 11 family members. The analysis of data resulted in 10 themes for each group. For the most part, the experience was a negative one that left the participants feeling frustrated and powerless. The themes have been used to create two visual analog scales (one for the patient and one for the patient/family). The tool is already being pilot tested.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: G L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Husted
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003657:Decision Making / Q000941:ethics*; D004644:Emotions; D004993:Ethics, Nursing; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology*; D010361:Patients / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States