To Örebro University

oru.seÖrebro University Publications
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Spontaneous ethics in nurses’ willingness to work during a pandemic
Department of Neurobiology, Care Science and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-5476-7803
Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institute, Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden.
Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institute, Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden.
2022 (English)In: Nursing Ethics, ISSN 0969-7330, E-ISSN 1477-0989, Vol. 29, no 5, p. 1293-1303Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Background: In modern healthcare, the role of solidarity, altruism and the natural response to moral challenges in life-threatening situations is still rather unexplored. The COVID-19 pandemic provided an opportunity to obtain a deeper understanding of nurses' willingness to care for patients during crisis.

Objective: To elucidate clinical expressions of ontological situational ethics through nurses' willingness to work during a pandemic.

Research design, participants and context: A qualitative study with an interpretive design was applied. Twenty nurses who worked in intensive care unit at two Swedish hospitals during the first, second, and third waves of the COVID-19 pandemic were interviewed. The analysis was interpretative and applied a theoretical ethics perspective.

Ethical considerations: The study was approved by the Swedish Ethical Review Authority and informed consent was obtained from all participants.

Findings: From a philosophical perspective, the nurses expressed sovereign life expressions of mercy and compassion, which arose spontaneously in response to seeing vulnerable fellow humans. They referenced ''the nurse inside me'' and their choice of profession as motives to provide care. Ontological situational ethics in culture and norms were noted in the constructs of competence, responsibility, solidarity with colleagues and organization; and interest and learning were driving forces. Ethical demand was evident when nurses expressed ideas of meaningfulness in helping their fellow humans; but themes of ambiguity, exhaustion and unwillingness were also present.

Conclusions: The nurses showed a high willingness to care for patients during a crisis. Responding to the ethical demand and to care for vulnerable human beings while risking their own health and lives could be interpreted as an inter-human vocation. These spontaneous altruistic actions saved the lives of many patients during the pandemic and need to be understood and supported. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Sage Publications, 2022. Vol. 29, no 5, p. 1293-1303
Keywords [en]
Caring ethics, ethical demand, Martinsen, phenomonological, ontology, Løgstrup, qualitative, hermeneutics
National Category
Nursing
Research subject
Ethics; Caring sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-104823DOI: 10.1177/09697330221085768ISI: 000798675400001PubMedID: 35559725Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85130101611OAI: oai:DiVA.org:oru-104823DiVA, id: diva2:1742300
Available from: 2023-03-09 Created: 2023-03-09 Last updated: 2023-03-17Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

Publisher's full textPubMedScopus

Authority records

Slettmyr, Anna

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Slettmyr, Anna
In the same journal
Nursing Ethics
Nursing

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

doi
pubmed
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
pubmed
urn-nbn
Total: 91 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf