Ethical Reasoning in Thai Nurse’s Practices: A Qualitative Study
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Abstract
This study reported on ethical reasoning application in ethical issues/dilemmas in daily nursing practices in Thailand. Ethical reasoning differences occurred as a result of individual interpretation of a subject or event, which might have a political or religious context. Ethical issues/dilemmas may potentially cause nurses to commit right and wrong actions on a daily basis because it is the duty of a nurse to protect patients by using the application of the four major principles of medical ethics: non-maleficence, beneficence, autonomy, and justice. The aim of this study was to describe the ethical reasoning nurses used in dealing with their ethical dilemmas. Information was collected using individual interviews with seven nurses experienced in ethical actions. Content analysis was used to extract significant themes. Seven themes that arose from this study were: (1) duty to provide maximum benefit to patient/family, (2) respecting patient rights, (3) freedom of the patient to make decisions, (4) respecting human dignity, (5) fairness, (6) responsibility, and (7) avoidance of putting patient/family in danger. The results of this study highlight that Thai nurses use ethical reasoning in their work practices. These results must be used to guide development and psychometric evaluations of ethical reasoning principled in nursing practice scale for Thai nurses in the future.
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