Abstract
Basic medical ethics teaching given to medical and vocational nursing students in Germany should ensure that they are capable of ethical reflection, analysis and assessment. This should provide both professional groups with the ethical competencies they need in their everyday professional lives. Based on a survey conducted in 2017 at the Unfallkrankenhaus Berlin, 62 physicians and 44 nurses were surveyed on their ethical competencies and the relevance of ethical decision-making in their daily working routines.
Ethical decision-making is perceived as more stressful by the nurses than by the physicians, but the feeling of urgency for more qualification especially in the field of end-of-life (EoL) ethics is high. A total of 45% of the physicians and 52% of the nurses did not acquire their knowledge through their course of studies or vocational training, and EoL ethics is the most desired field for further education programmes in both professional groups.
The results indicate that the quantitative and qualitative knowledge transfer of medical ethics within the framework of regular training may fall short of the set goals. Therefore, both a quantitative increase in medical-ethical training and an intensification in the context of cross-sectional topics in other subject groups should be discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
As the condition that 80% of all expected table cell counts must be >5 is not fulfilled, Fisher’s exact test is used to determine the statistical significance at a 0.05 level.
References
AlMahmoud, T., M.J. Hashim, M.A. Elzubeir, and F. Branicki. 2017. Ethics teaching in a medical education environment: Preferences for diversity of learning and assessment methods. Medical Education Online 22: 1328257. https://doi.org/10.1080/10872981.2017.1328257.
Biller-Andorno, N., G. Neitzke, A. Frewer, and C. Wiesemann. 2003. Lehrziele ‘Medizinethik im Medizinstudium’. Ethik in der Medizin 15: 117–121. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00481-003-0224-7.
Brooks, L., and D. Bell. 2017. Teaching, learning and assessment of medical ethics at the UK medical schools. Journal of Medical Ethics 43: 606–612. https://doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2015-103189.
Bundesministerium für Gesundheit. 2002. Approbationsordnung für Ärzte vom 27. Juni 2002 (BGBl. I S. 2405), die zuletzt durch Artikel 5 des Gesetzes vom 17. Juli 2017 (BGBl. I S. 2581) geändert worden ist. http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/_appro_2002/. Accessed 25 Feb 2020.
Dodek, P.M., H. Wong, M. Norena, N. Ayas, S.C. Reynolds, S.P. Keenan, A. Hamric, P. Rodney, M. Stewart, and L. Alden. 2016. Moral distress in intensive care unit professionals is associated with profession, age, and years of experience. Journal of Critical Care 31: 178–182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrc.2015.10.011.
Epstein, E.G., P.B. Whitehead, C. Prompahakul, L.R. Thacker, and A.B. Hamric. 2019. Enhancing understanding of moral distress: The measure of moral distress for health care professionals. AJOB Empirical Bioethics 10: 113–124. https://doi.org/10.1080/23294515.2019.1586008.
Henrich, N.J., P.M. Dodek, E. Gladstone, L. Alden, S.P. Keenan, S. Reynolds, and P. Rodney. 2017. Consequences of moral distress in the intensive care unit: A qualitative study. American Journal of Critical Care 26: e48–e57. https://doi.org/10.4037/ajcc2017786.
Leuter, C., C. Petrucci, V. Caponnetto, C. La Cerra, and L. Lancia. 2018. Need for ethics support in clinical practice and suggestion for an Ethics Consultation Service: Views of Nurses and physicians working in Italian healthcare institutions. Annali Dell’Istituto Superiore Di Sanita 54: 117–125. https://doi.org/10.4415/ANN_18_02_07.
Martins, V.S.M., C.M.N.C. Santos, P.U.R. Bataglia, and I.M.R.F. Duarte. 2020. The teaching of ethics and the moral competence of medical and nursing students. Health Care Analysis 29 (2): 113–126. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10728-020-00401-1.
Mattick, K., and J. Bligh. 2006. Teaching and Assessing medical ethics: where are we now? Journal of Medical Ethics 32: 181–185. https://doi.org/10.1136/jme.2005.014597.
Riedel, A., J. Behrens, C. Giese, M. Geiselhart, G. Fuchs, H. Kohlen, W. Pasch, M. Rabe, and L. Schütze. 2016. Zentrale Aspekte der Ethikkompetenz in der Pflege: Empfehlungen der Sektion Lehrende im Bereich der Pflegeausbildung und der Pflegestudiengänge in der Akademie für Ethik in der Medizin e. V. Ethik in der Medizin 29: 161–165. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00481-016-0415-7.
Schildmann, J., F. Bruns, V. Hess, and J. Vollmann. 2017. ‘History, theory and ethics of medicine’: The last ten years. A survey of course content, methods and structural preconditions at twenty-nine German medical faculties. GMS Journal for Medical Education 34: Doc23. https://doi.org/10.3205/zma001100.
Slotala, L., and M. Ewers. 2012. Bildungsberichterstattung in der Pflege. Pflege & Gesellschaft 178: 63–78.
Sorta-Bilajac, I., K. Baždarić, M. Brkljačić Žagrović, E. Jančić, B. Brozović, T. Čengić, S. Ćorluka, and G.J. Agich. 2011. How nurses and physicians face ethical dilemmas—The Croatian experience. Nursing Ethics 18: 341–355. https://doi.org/10.1177/0969733011398095.
Strube, W., M. Pfeiffer, and F. Steger. 2011. Moralische Positionen, medizinethische Kenntnisse und Motivation im Laufe des Medizinstudiums – Ergebnisse einer Querschnittsstudie an der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. Ethik in der Medizin 23: 201–216. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00481-011-0119-y.
Strube, W., M. Rabe, J. Härlein, and F. Steger. 2014. Gesundheitsethische Kenntnisse im Verlauf der Pflegeausbildung – Ergebnisse einer Querschnittsstudie in Deutschland. Ethik in der Medizin 26: 225–235. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00481-013-0250-z.
Wandrowski, J., T. Schuster, W. Strube, and F. Steger. 2012. Medical ethical knowledge and moral attitudes among physicians in Bavaria. Deutsches Ärzteblatt International 109: 141–147. https://doi.org/10.3238/arztebl.2012.0141.
Whitehead, P.B., Herbertson, R.K., Hamric, A.B., Epstein, E.G., and Fisher, J.M. 2015. Moral distress among healthcare professionals: Report of an institution-wide survey. Journal of Nursing Scholarship: An Official Publication of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing 47(2): 117–125. https://doi.org/10.1111/jnu.12115.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Mues, A., Weise, T., Ekkernkamp, A. (2022). Comparison of Self-Assessed Competencies Regarding End-of-Life Ethics between Physicians and Nursing Staff. In: Seidlein, AH., Salloch, S. (eds) Ethical Challenges for Healthcare Practices at the End of Life: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Philosophy and Medicine, vol 141. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83186-8_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83186-8_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-83185-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-83186-8
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)