Question

Read the following research and summarize and answer the questions

Ethical issues related to caring for low birth weight infants

Abstract

Background:

Currently preterm births are the leading causes of newborn deaths and newborn mortality in developed countries. Infants born prematurely remain vulnerable to many acute complications and long-term disabilities. There is a growing concern surrounding the moral and ethical implications of the complex and technological care being provided to extremely low birth weight infants in neonatal intensive care units in the developed nations.

Research purpose:

The purpose of this study was to describe the ethical and moral issues that neonatal intensive care nurses experience when caring for low birth weight preterm infants and their families.

Research design:

A phenomenological method design was used to describe the lived experiences of nurses with ethical and moral issues encountered in the neonatal intensive care unit. One-on-one, semi-structured interviews using open-ended questions were used to gather data from the participants.

Research participants:

The setting for this study was a 97-bed neonatal intensive care. A total of 16 female nurses were interviewed.

Ethical considerations:

Approval to conduct the research study was obtained from the institutional review board of the hospital where the study was conducted. Formal signed consent was obtained from each participant. To ensure confidentiality, each participant was asked to choose a confederate name to be used in the interview and the transcriptions.

Findings:

The thematic analysis identified five recurring themes: (a) at the edge of viability, (b) infant pain and discomfort, (c) crucial decisions, (d) communicating with parents, and (e) letting go.

Conclusion:

Neonatal intensive care unit nurses indicated that they often had challenges to their own sense of morality as they struggled to protect the infant from pain and unnecessary discomfort, provide care to an infant and their family whom they thought was faced with a lifetime of challenges and poor health, accepting decisions made by parents, and feeling as if parents were not adequately informed about outcomes.

.What problem was this study designed to address and is it an important one to nursing?

What is the main research question?

What study design used in this study?

a. What qualitative method is used in this study?

a. Is the way of obtaining subjects appropriate? Is the sample size appropriate for this type of study?

b. Is the setting in which data were collected an appropriate one for this study?

a. Are the methods used appropriate for a qualitative research study?

c. Were steps taken to protect the rights of study subjects?

d. What evidence is there that data saturation was achieved?

a. What procedures were used to analyze the type of data collected?

b. What were the study findings?

Answer 1

Answer:

The problem that is addressed in the study is to know what ethical and moral issues are experienced by the nurses in neonatal intensive care. This is important to nursing because with this experience and study the nurses can learn to handle similar situations during their health care.

The main research question is what level of ethical and moral issues are aced by the nurses at the time of childbirth.

The study design used in this study is survey research.

The qualitative method used in this study is through surveys. In this research design, the data are collected from surveys and then are statistically analysed to get a meaningful conclusion.   

The research could have been more robust if the subjects were obtained from different hospitals. The sample size is not appropriate for this type of study. The minimum sample size should have been 30.

Yes, the setting in which data were collected an appropriate one for this study. All the ethical rules are followed in this research.

Yes, the methods are used appropriately for a qualitative research study. Nurses who have regular experience can provide valid and useful survey information on health care ethics.

Yes, the step has been taken to protect the rights of study subjects. Their names are not disclosed and the confidentiality is maintained.

The evidence that shows that the data saturation has achieved is the common statements of the subjects regarding ethical and moral issues.

The procedures used to analyse the type of data collected are the percentage of the highest and the lowest opinion. The facts that are revealed by the majority of the subject is considered to be more important than the facts provided by a few subjects.

The study shows that there are moral challenges faced by nurses in neonatal intensive care. They accept decisions made by parents. They have a feeling that parents are not adequately informed of the outcomes.