Ethical Problems and Moral Distress in Primary Care: A Scoping Review

Noemi Giannetta, Giulia Villa, Federico Pennestrì, Roberta Sala, Roberto Mordacci and Duilio Fiorenzo Manara
Additional contact information
Noemi Giannetta: Faculty of Philosophy, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, 20132 Milan, Italy
Giulia Villa: Center for Nursing Research and Innovation, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, 20132 Milan, Italy
Federico Pennestrì: Faculty of Philosophy, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, 20132 Milan, Italy
Roberta Sala: Faculty of Philosophy, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, 20132 Milan, Italy
Roberto Mordacci: Faculty of Philosophy, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, 20132 Milan, Italy
Duilio Fiorenzo Manara: Center for Nursing Research and Innovation, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, 20132 Milan, Italy

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 14, 1-14

Abstract: Background: Since 1997, nursing ethics research has focused on solving ethical dilemmas, enhancing decision-making strategies, and introducing professional education. Few studies describe the triggers of ethical dilemmas among primary care nurses. The aim of this study was to explore the moral distress and ethical dilemmas among primary care nurses. Methods: A scoping review was performed following Arskey and O’Malley’s framework. PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Embase, and Scopus were searched systematically to retrieve relevant titles and abstracts. A temporal filter was applied to focus on the most recent literature (years of 2010–2020). The research was completed on 17 November 2020. Results: Of 184 articles retrieved, 15 were included in the review. Some ( n = 7) studies had a qualitative design, and the most productive country was Brazil ( n = 7). The total number of nurses involved in quantitative studies was 1137 (range: 36–433); the total number of nurses involved in qualitative studies was 144 (range: 7–73). Three main focus areas were identified: (a) frequent ethical conflicts and moral distress episodes among nurses working in primary care settings; (b) frequent moral distress measures here employed; (c) coping strategies here adopted to prevent or manage moral distress. Conclusion: Further research is needed to examine the differences between moral distress triggers and sources of ethical dilemmas among the different care environments, such as primary care and acute care settings.

Keywords: ethical dilemmas; moral distress; nursing; primary care; community care setting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/14/7565/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/14/7565/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:14:p:7565-:d:595342

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().