The Role of Ethics Committees in Supporting Nurses Facing End-of-Life Care Dilemmas

Posted: Feb 13, 2023

• Miles Turner
• Natalie Rogers
• Nathan Howard

Abstract

The complex landscape of modern healthcare has positioned nurses at the forefront of end-of-life care decisions, where they frequently encounter profound ethical dilemmas that challenge their professional values, personal beliefs, and emotional resilience. These dilemmas emerge from the intersection of advancing medical technology, diverse patient values, institutional constraints, and evolving societal norms regarding death and dying. Nurses, as the healthcare professionals who spend the most continuous time with patients and families, often bear the brunt of navigating these morally ambiguous situations. Despite the established presence of ethics committees in most healthcare institutions, there remains a significant disconnect between the theoretical availability of ethical support and the practical utilization of these resources by nursing staff facing end-of-life care challenges. This research addresses a critical gap in the literature by examining not only the structural components of ethics committees but also the relational and procedural elements that determine their effectiveness in supporting nurses. Traditional approaches have often treated ethics committees as reactive entities that respond to specific case consultations, but our investigation proposes a more dynamic model that integrates ethics support throughout the nursing experience of end-of-life care. The moral distress experienced by nurses in these situations has well-documented consequences, including burnout, turnover, and compromised care.