title: Early indicators and risk factors for ethical issues in clinical practice.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Nurses in all clinical settings encounter ethical issues that frequently lead to moral distress. This critical incident study explored nurses' descriptions of ethically difficult situations to identify risk factors and early indicators of ethical conflicts.
  
  
  METHODS
  Employing the critical incident technique, researchers developed a questionnaire that collected information on ethically difficult situations, their risk factors and early indicators, nurse actions, and situational outcomes. Two nurse researchers independently analyzed and categorized data using a constant comparison technique.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Most of the ethically difficult situations pertained to end-of-life care for children and adults. Conflicts in interpersonal relationships were prevalent. Nurses were especially moved by patient and family suffering and concerned about patient vulnerability, harm-benefit ratio, and patient autonomy. Researchers discovered risk factor categories for patients, families, healthcare providers, and health systems. Additionally, researchers found subcategories in six major categories of early indicators: signs of conflict, patient suffering, nurse distress, ethics violation, unrealistic expectations, and poor communication.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Nurses are keenly aware of pertinent risk factors and early indicators of unfolding ethical conflicts. Many nurses reported feeling powerless in the face of ethical conflict. Research that develops interventions to strengthen nurses' voices in ethically difficult situation is warranted.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Nurses are in a key position to identify patient situations with a high risk for ethical conflict. Initiating early ethics consultation and interventions can alter the course of pending conflicts and diminish the potential for patient and family suffering and nurses' moral distress.
authors.affiliation: UCLA School of Nursing, Los Angeles, CA, USA. cpavlish@sonnet.ucla.edu
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pavlish
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Brown-Saltzman
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hersh
authors.forename: Marilyn
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shirk
authors.forename: Olga
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Nudelman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001293:Attitude to Death; D003142:Communication; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D003657:Decision Making; D004993:Ethics, Nursing; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009014:Morals; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000523:psychology