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Biomedical subjects

C H Rushton

Publications and source records attributed to C H Rushton.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1998

A road map for navigating end-of-life care.

As nurses begin to develop the sensitivities and skills necessary to preserve the integrity of clinical care and professional life, they must recognize the legitimacy of their perspectives and the value and consequences they have for the well-being of patient and family care. Nurses have much to contribute to the development of ethical practice environments for patients, families, multidisciplinary team members, and themselves. The frenzied, and at times anesthetized, culture of clinical settings can mitigate against the kind of deliberate reflection that is necessary if nurses are to act with ethical integrity. Knowing the rules of the road for end-of-life care and being attentive to common warning signs and addressing them proactively, enables nurses to provide patients and families with the highest quality care at the end of life.

Ethics, Nursing↗
PubMed1997

Environments that support ethical practice.

Our healthcare system is fundamentally flawed in the ability to provide quality end-of-life care. The provision of quality end-of-life care involves a complex interaction of personal, professional, and societal values and practices. Attention to each dimension of end-of-life care is essential to improve the care of the dying patient and his/her family. Given the complexity of this problem, this article focuses on the critical care environment and the aspect of organizational culture and specific strategies for improvement. Several inter-related components of an environment which may foster ethical thinking, decision-making, and behaviors are discussed including organizational culture, individual agency, collaboration, and educational resources. Every member of the healthcare team has the responsibility to be a catalyst for creating a critical care environment where ethical practice is expected and rewarded rather than punished and suppressed. As a healthcare team, our ultimate goal is to provide healing and humane end-of-life care for all patients and families.

Cooperative Behavior↗
PubMed1996

Assisted suicide: clinical realities and ethical challenges.

The increasing attention to assisted suicide, as evidenced by recent legislation, initiatives, court decisions, and research, propels the issue to a new level of importance and urgency within society and the health professions. Nurses cannot help but be confronted by and struggle with the complex moral and professional quandaries related to assisted suicide. Critical care nurses must continue to evaluate the implications of the possible legalization of assisted suicide and to define the boundaries of morally acceptable professional practice. The challenges to the roles and responsibilities of critical care nurses that might occur if assisted suicide were legalized must be thoughtfully and responsibly explored.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1995

Creating an ethical practice environment: a focus on advocacy.

In order for nurses to be effective advocates, they must practice in an environment that fosters competency, collaboration, communication, and ethical values. This article addresses the meaning of advocacy, explores whether nurses can be effective advocates in complex practice environments, identifies barriers to advocacy, and suggests individual and systems approaches to support advocacy in critical care.

Critical Care↗
PubMed1992

Dealing with advance directives for critically ill adolescents.

Respecting the values and preferences of adolescents regarding treatment is an essential dimension of nursing practice. As public policy and societal thinking about the role of minors in healthcare decisions evolves, critical care nurses are in a pivotal position to provide leadership and guidance. Critical care nurses who care for adolescents should embrace the opportunity created by the PSDA to implement creative strategies for involving minors in decision making, seek improved methods of assessing decision-making capacity, and document the values and preferences of minors.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Involving parents in decisions to forego life-sustaining treatment for critically ill infants and children.

A moral framework based on principles of beneficence and respect for persons requires shared decision-making. In the best interest of critically ill children, parents should be the primary decisionmakers in collaboration with health care professionals. When parents are unable to function in their proper role as surrogate, health care professionals must seek an alternative surrogate decisionmaker. A balanced partnership between parents and professionals can be supported by attention to the environmental stessors, enhanced communication, networks of support and institutional mechanisms for conflict resolution.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Balancing the benefits and burdens of ECMO. The nurse's role.

Technologic innovations such as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation generate a myriad of ethical concerns that complicate clinical treatment decisions. Nurses must engage in deliberate actions to raise the issues of balancing the benefits and burdens of the technology, access to therapy, informed consent, and allocation of scarce resources, in order to provide ECMO services in an ethically sound manner. Consumers and providers of ECMO services must continue to examine and debate these issues in a reasoned, deliberate fashion and construct the necessary procedural safeguards that will ensure beneficent and just delivery of these services.

Beneficence↗