Whom are we seeking to protect? Extremely preterm babies and moral distress
End-of-life care; Decision-making; Neonatal intensive care; Moral distress; Ethical confrontation; Prematurity
Advances in perinatal care bring with them ethical challenges and difficult questions. When should we provide life-sustaining interventions, and who should decide? Particularly at the edges of viability, some clinicians may feel required to provide a level of care that they believe is not in the patient's interests, resulting in moral distress. This article will discuss the complex nature of moral distress arising during the care of extremely preterm babies. It will describe the challenges and cognitive biases present when contemplating potential harms to the baby and recognize the possible costs to both healthcare provider and baby when moral distress arises. Both clinicians caring for extremely preterm babies and the families themselves can experience moral distress. This article argues that for clinicians, recognizing the range of possible sources of moral distress is vital in order to appropriately address moral distress. Moral distress may arise from a desire to protect the baby, but also from an impulse to protect oneself from the emotional burdens of care. Addressing moral distress requires reflection on the factual beliefs, experiences and personal values which lie behind the distress, both within one self in and in discussion with colleagues. Moral distress indicates that a situation is ethically challenging, but it does not necessarily mean that a wrong decision has been made.
Prentice TM; Gillam L; Davis PG; Janvier A
Seminars in Perinatology
2021
Article information provided for research and reference use only. PedPalASCNET does not hold any rights over the resource listed here. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).
<a href="http://doi.org/10.1016/j.semperi.2021.151549" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10.1016/j.semperi.2021.151549</a>
Siblings and End-Of-Life Decision Making in the NICU
decision making; sibling; care behavior; child; clinical article; conference abstract; content analysis; critically ill patient; Decision Making; electronic medical record; female; human; infant; male; neonatal intensive care unit; perception; semi structured interview; wellbeing
Background: When making end-of-life decisions for a child in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), standard practice is to involve parents in shared decision-making so that the values of parents are considered and decisions are made in the interests of the child. In this decision-making process, it is not known whether parents are influenced by the needs of their other children. Method(s): A qualitative two-phase exploratory methodology was chosen to understand how considerations for other children in the family influence parents' decisions. The electronic medical records of children ( n = 20) previously admitted to the Royal Children's Hospital's NICU were analysed for relevant mentions of siblings. Then, families ( n = 3) participated in semi-structured interviews to understand considerations of siblings. Statements and interviews were analysed using inductive content analysis. Result(s): Parents articulate the considerate juggling act of balancing the day-to-day needs of multiple children during the NICU journey. With the wellbeing of siblings in mind, parents made a range of decisions with different degrees of medical impact in the NICU. For end-of-life decisions, parents differed in their perspectives about whether considerations of siblings should be taken into account. Moreover, clinicians were aware of the challenges of caring for multiple children and supported parents with these challenges. Conclusion(s): It is clinically and ethically significant that sibling considerations impact end-of-life decision-making. We suggest clinicians reflect on their own perception of how much siblings should be allowed to influence end-of-life decisions to protect critically ill babies from harm. More research is needed to better understand these influences.
Power J; Gillam L; Prentice TM
Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health
2023
Article information provided for research and reference use only. PedPalASCNET does not hold any rights over the resource listed here. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).
<a href="http://doi.org/10.1111/jpc.16357" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10.1111/jpc.16357</a>
Can the Ethical Best Practice of Shared Decision-Making lead to Moral Distress?
Neonatology; Humans; Burnout Professional; Attitude of Health Personnel; Patient Participation; Morals; Stress Psychological; Decision-making; Decision Making/ethics; Clinical ethics; End-of-life issues; Patient Care/ethics; Physicians/ethics/psychology; Professional-professional relationship
When healthcare professionals feel constrained from acting in a patient's best interests, moral distress ensues. The resulting negative sequelae of burnout, poor retention rates, and ultimately poor patient care are well recognized across healthcare providers. Yet an appreciation of how particular disciplines, including physicians, come to be "constrained" in their actions is still lacking. This paper will examine how the application of shared decision-making may contribute to the experience of moral distress for physicians and why such distress may go under-recognized. Appreciation of these dynamics may assist in cross-discipline sensitivity, enabling more constructive dialogue and collaboration.
Prentice TM; Gillam L
Journal of bioethical inquiry
2018
Article information provided for research and reference use only. PedPalASCNET does not hold any rights over the resource listed here. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).
<a href="http://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-018-9847-8" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10.1007/s11673-018-9847-8</a>
Always a burden? Healthcare providers' perspectives on moral distress
Humans; Intensive Care Units; Stress; Attitude of Health Personnel; Female; Male; Adult; Qualitative Research; Intensive Care; Terminal Care/es [Ethics]; Terminal Care/px [Psychology]; Morals; Job Satisfaction; Psychological; Neonatal; Burnout; Terminal Care; Health Personnel/px [Psychology]; Professional/px [Psychology]; Neonatal/sn [Statistics & Numerical Data]; Neonatal/es [Ethics]; Burnout; Intensive Care; Stress; Neonatal/px [Psychology]; Professional; Professional/et [Etiology]; Professional/pc [Prevention & Control]; Psychological/et [Etiology]; Psychological/pc [Prevention & Control]
BACKGROUND: Current conceptualisations of moral distress largely portray a negative phenomenon that leads to burnout, reduced job satisfaction and poor patient care. OBJECTIVE: To explore clinical experiences, perspectives and perceptions of moral distress in neonatology. DESIGN: An anonymous questionnaire was distributed to medical and nursing providers within two tertiary level neonatal intensive care units (NICUs)-one surgical and one perinatal-seeking their understanding of the term and their experience of it. Open-ended questions were analysed using qualitative methodology. RESULTS: A total of 345 healthcare providers from two NICUs participated (80% response rate): 286 nurses and 59 medical providers. Moral distress was correctly identified as constrained moral judgement resulting in distress by 93% of participants. However, in practice the term moral distress was also used as an umbrella term to articulate different forms of distress. Moral distress was experienced by 72% of providers at least once a month. Yet despite the negative sequelae of moral distress, few (8% medical, 21% nursing providers) thought that moral distress should be eliminated from the NICU. Open-ended responses revealed that while interventions were desired to decrease the negative impacts of moral distress, moral distress was also viewed as an essential component of the caring profession that prompts robust discussion and acts as an impetus for medical decision-making. CONCLUSIONS: Moral distress remains prevalent within NICUs. While the harmful aspects of moral distress need to be mitigated, moral distress may have a positive role in advocating for and promoting the interests of the neonatal population.
Prentice TM; Gillam L; Davis PG; Janvier A
Archives of Disease in Childhood Fetal & Neonatal Edition
2018
Article information provided for research and reference use only. PedPalASCNET does not hold any rights over the resource listed here.
<a href="http://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2017-313539" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10.1136/archdischild-2017-313539</a>