Ethics rounds in the ambulance service : a qualitative evaluation
Frank, Catharina ; Rantala, Andreas LU
; Svensson, Anders
; Sterner, Anders
; Green, Jessica
; Bremer, Anders
and Holmberg, Bodil
(2024)
In BMC Medical Ethics
25(1).
- Abstract
- Background
It is a common ethical challenge for ambulance clinicians to care for patients with impaired decision-making capacities while assessing and determining the degree of decision-making ability and considering ethical values. Ambulance clinicians’ ethical competence seems to be increasingly important in coping with such varied ethical dilemmas. Ethics rounds is a model designed to promote the development of ethical competence among clinicians. While standard in other contexts, to the best of our knowledge, it has not been applied within the ambulance service context. Thus, the aim of this study was to describe ambulance clinicians’ experiences of participating in ethics rounds.
Methods
This was a qualitative... (More) - Background
It is a common ethical challenge for ambulance clinicians to care for patients with impaired decision-making capacities while assessing and determining the degree of decision-making ability and considering ethical values. Ambulance clinicians’ ethical competence seems to be increasingly important in coping with such varied ethical dilemmas. Ethics rounds is a model designed to promote the development of ethical competence among clinicians. While standard in other contexts, to the best of our knowledge, it has not been applied within the ambulance service context. Thus, the aim of this study was to describe ambulance clinicians’ experiences of participating in ethics rounds.
Methods
This was a qualitative descriptive study, evaluating an intervention. Data were collected through sixteen interviews with ambulance clinicians who had participated in an intervention involving ethics rounds. The analysis was performed by use of content analysis.
Results
Two themes describe the participants’ experiences: (1) Reflecting freely within a given framework, and (2) Being surprised by new insights. The following categories form the basis of the themes; 1a) Gentle guidance by the facilitator, 1b) A comprehensible structure, 2a) New awareness in the face of ethical problems, and 2b) Shared learning through dialogue.
Conclusion
Incorporating structured ethics rounds seems to create a continuous development in ethical competence that may improve the quality of care in the ambulance service. Structured guidance and facilitated group reflections offer ambulance clinicians opportunities for both personal and professional development. An important prerequisite for the development of ethical competence is a well-educated facilitator. Consequently, this type of ethics rounds may be considered a useful pedagogical model for the development of ethical competence in the ambulance service. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/8edc4a72-ecca-41a6-b29b-bd3f4a8f6cbd
- author
- Frank, Catharina
; Rantala, Andreas
LU
; Svensson, Anders
; Sterner, Anders
; Green, Jessica
; Bremer, Anders
and Holmberg, Bodil
- organization
- publishing date
- 2024-01-18
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Ambulance clinicians, Ethics rounds, Intervention, Qualitative, Evaluation, Ethical competence, Decisionmaking, Patient autonomy
- in
- BMC Medical Ethics
- volume
- 25
- issue
- 1
- article number
- 8
- pages
- 10 pages
- publisher
- BioMed Central (BMC)
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85182686416
- pmid:38238736
- ISSN
- 1472-6939
- DOI
- 10.1186/s12910-024-01002-6
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 8edc4a72-ecca-41a6-b29b-bd3f4a8f6cbd
- date added to LUP
- 2024-01-19 08:29:23
- date last changed
- 2024-04-20 03:00:16
@article{8edc4a72-ecca-41a6-b29b-bd3f4a8f6cbd,
abstract = {{Background<br/><br/>It is a common ethical challenge for ambulance clinicians to care for patients with impaired decision-making capacities while assessing and determining the degree of decision-making ability and considering ethical values. Ambulance clinicians’ ethical competence seems to be increasingly important in coping with such varied ethical dilemmas. Ethics rounds is a model designed to promote the development of ethical competence among clinicians. While standard in other contexts, to the best of our knowledge, it has not been applied within the ambulance service context. Thus, the aim of this study was to describe ambulance clinicians’ experiences of participating in ethics rounds.<br/>Methods<br/><br/>This was a qualitative descriptive study, evaluating an intervention. Data were collected through sixteen interviews with ambulance clinicians who had participated in an intervention involving ethics rounds. The analysis was performed by use of content analysis.<br/>Results<br/><br/>Two themes describe the participants’ experiences: (1) Reflecting freely within a given framework, and (2) Being surprised by new insights. The following categories form the basis of the themes; 1a) Gentle guidance by the facilitator, 1b) A comprehensible structure, 2a) New awareness in the face of ethical problems, and 2b) Shared learning through dialogue.<br/>Conclusion<br/><br/>Incorporating structured ethics rounds seems to create a continuous development in ethical competence that may improve the quality of care in the ambulance service. Structured guidance and facilitated group reflections offer ambulance clinicians opportunities for both personal and professional development. An important prerequisite for the development of ethical competence is a well-educated facilitator. Consequently, this type of ethics rounds may be considered a useful pedagogical model for the development of ethical competence in the ambulance service.}},
author = {{Frank, Catharina and Rantala, Andreas and Svensson, Anders and Sterner, Anders and Green, Jessica and Bremer, Anders and Holmberg, Bodil}},
issn = {{1472-6939}},
keywords = {{Ambulance clinicians; Ethics rounds; Intervention; Qualitative; Evaluation; Ethical competence; Decisionmaking; Patient autonomy}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{01}},
number = {{1}},
publisher = {{BioMed Central (BMC)}},
series = {{BMC Medical Ethics}},
title = {{Ethics rounds in the ambulance service : a qualitative evaluation}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12910-024-01002-6}},
doi = {{10.1186/s12910-024-01002-6}},
volume = {{25}},
year = {{2024}},
}