Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

C Gastmans

Publications and source records attributed to C Gastmans.

17 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Nursing, obedience, and complicity with eugenics: a contextual interpretation of nursing morality at the turn of the twentieth century.

This paper uses Margaret Urban Walker's "expressive collaborative" method of moral inquiry to examine and illustrate the morality of nurses in Great Britain from around 1860 to 1915, as well as nursing complicity in one of the first eugenic policies. The authors aim to focus on how context shapes and limits morality and agency in nurses and contributes to a better understanding of debates in nursing ethics both in the past and present.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed2006

Nurses' views on their involvement in euthanasia: a qualitative study in Flanders (Belgium).

BACKGROUND: Although nurses worldwide are confronted with euthanasia requests from patients, the views of palliative care nurses on their involvement in euthanasia remain unclear. OBJECTIVES: In depth exploration of the views of palliative care nurses on their involvement in the entire care process surrounding euthanasia. DESIGN: A qualitative Grounded Theory strategy was used. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: In anticipation of new Belgian legislation on euthanasia, we conducted semistructured interviews with 12 nurses working in a palliative care setting in the province of Vlaams-Brabant (Belgium). RESULTS: Palliative care nurses believed unanimously that they have an important role in the process of caring for a patient who requests euthanasia, a role that is not limited to assisting the physician when he is administering life terminating drugs. Nurses' involvement starts when the patient requests euthanasia and ends with supporting the patient's relatives and healthcare colleagues after the potential life terminating act. Nurses stressed the importance of having an open mind and of using palliative techniques, also offering a contextual understanding of the patient's request in the decision making process. Concerning the actual act of performing euthanasia, palliative care nurses saw their role primarily as assisting the patient, the patient's family, and the physician by being present, even if they could not reconcile themselves with actually performing euthanasia. CONCLUSIONS: Based on their professional nursing expertise and unique relationship with the patient, nurses participating as full members of the interdisciplinary expert team are in a key position to provide valuable care to patients requesting euthanasia.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Use of physical restraint in nursing homes: clinical-ethical considerations.

This article gives a brief overview of the state of the art concerning physical restraint use among older persons in nursing homes. Within this context we identify some essential values and norms that must be observed in an ethical evaluation of physical restraint. These values and norms provide the ethical foundation for a number of concrete recommendations that could give clinical and ethical support to caregivers when they make decisions about physical restraint. Respect for the autonomy and overall wellbeing of older persons, a proportional assessment of the advantages and disadvantages, a priority focus on the alternatives to physical restraint, individualised care, interdisciplinary decision making, and an institutional policy are the central points that make it possible to deal responsibly with the use of physical restraint for older persons in nursing homes.

Aged↗
PubMed2005

The complexity of nurses' attitudes toward euthanasia: a review of the literature.

In this literature review, a picture is given of the complexity of nursing attitudes toward euthanasia. The myriad of data found in empirical literature is mostly framed within a polarised debate and inconclusive about the complex reality behind attitudes toward euthanasia. Yet, a further examination of the content as well as the context of attitudes is more revealing. The arguments for euthanasia have to do with quality of life and respect for autonomy. Arguments against euthanasia have to do with non-maleficence, sanctity of life, and the notion of the slippery slope. When the context of attitudes is examined a number of positive correlates for euthanasia such as age, nursing specialty, and religion appear. In a further analysis of nurses' comments on euthanasia, it is revealed that part of the complexity of nursing attitudes toward euthanasia arises because of the needs of nurses at the levels of clinical practice, communication, emotions, decision making, and ethics.

Age Factors↗
PubMed2004

Involvement of nurses in euthanasia: a review of the literature.

In ethical debates about euthanasia, the focus is often exclusively on the involvement of physicians and the involvement of nurses is seldom given much attention. Yet nurses occupy a central position in the care of terminal patients, where being confronted with a euthanasia request is an ever present possibility. To assess the involvement of nurses in euthanasia, this article provides an overview of relevant findings from the scientific literature. From this it becomes apparent that nurses are involved in various phases of the euthanasia process: observing the request for euthanasia, decision making, carrying out of euthanasia, and the aftercare for the patient's family members.

Decision Making↗
PubMed2004

Facing requests for euthanasia: a clinical practice guideline.

On 23 September 2002, the Belgian law on euthanasia came into force. This makes Belgium the second country in the world (after the Netherlands) to have an Act on euthanasia. Even though there is currently legal regulation of euthanasia in Belgium, very little is known about how this legal regulation could be translated into care for patients who request euthanasia.

Belgium↗
PubMed1999

Care as a moral attitude in nursing.

The concept of care can be explained in various ways, and it can present a different meaning to each person. Nurses are increasingly aware that good nursing care consists of 'more' than the competent performance of a number of caring activities. For many nurses it is less clear what this 'more' means and what importance it has in nursing. This article will develop a view concerning care considered as a moral attitude. It is argued that care can be considered as a foundational normative concept in the ethics of the nursing profession. The aim is to clarify that nurses do not derive their specific caring identity just from the set of tasks that they perform but also from the way in which they commit themselves to the caring process.

Empathy↗
PubMed1998

An adjusted version of Kohlberg's moral theory: discussion of its validity for research in nursing ethics.

Critics of Kohlberg's moral theory today focus on the content of his theory and more specifically on its justice-orientated moral concept. This has led to the well-known 'justice-care debate'. The purpose of this article is to critically examine the validity of Kohlberg's moral theory for research in nursing ethics from a caring perspective (referring to the content) as well as from a cognitive-structural perspective (referring to the basic assumptions of the model). The analysis points to the usefulness and value of the cognitive-structural model to empirically study nurses' ethical behaviour; the content of Kohlberg's model, however, needs to be adapted by adding a caring perspective as well as some personal and situational variables. An adjusted version of Kohlberg's model is proposed and discussed.

Cognition↗
PubMed1998

Interpersonal relations in nursing: a philosophical-ethical analysis of the work of Hildegard E. Peplau.

Nursing typically has been viewed as a moral practice, for instance by new developments in the ethics of care. Nevertheless, many philosophical-ethical presuppositions of nursing theories remain to be clarified. This paper presents a philosophical-ethical analysis of the work of Hildegard E. Peplau. Analysis of the philosophical-ethical background of Peplau's works illuminates a view on nursing practice that is relevant today. Three main components are analysed more deeply, i.e. the professionalization of nursing, the philosophical underpinnings of Peplau's view on nursing science, and the nurse-patient relationship as the central event in nursing.

Ethics, Nursing↗
PubMed1998

Challenges to nursing values in a changing nursing environment.

The aim of this paper is to analyse how the broad context of nursing practice plays a stimulating and/or a restricting role in the process of ethical caring. Three areas of special attention are noted. First, on the societal level, some developments that influence the state of affairs in the caring sector are indicated. Secondly, concerning the nursing and medical professions, an interprofessional dialogue based on specific competence is outlined. Thirdly, there is a discussion of how health care institutions can evolve from a business undertaking to a pedagogic-moral area where nurses can learn the moral attitudes that are essential to achieve 'good care'

Codes of Ethics↗
PubMed1998

Meals in nursing homes. An ethical appraisal.

The ethical approach of artificial administration of food and fluids has been much enlivened in recent years. Nevertheless, the ethical implications of the day-to-day event of serving meals in nursing homes remain to be clarified. This paper has a double aim. First, I present a philosophical-ethical clarification of mealtime care in nursing homes. Second, I suggest several ethical orientations related to the nutritional problem among nursing home residents. I argue that caregivers must not only have considerable knowledge and skill in nutritional matters; it is only by integrating as much as possible an attitude of caring with the competent performance of care activities that 'good mealtime care' can be achieved.

Aged↗
PubMed1996

Dehydration among terminally ill patients: an integrated ethical and practical approach for caregivers.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the possibilities and limitations of an ethical and practical approach to terminal dehydration. We have argued that dehydration among terminally ill patients offers an important key to a better understanding of the dying process, and that the caregivers' reactions can lead to a deepening of holistic palliative care. This article makes clear that the moral question of terminal dehydration can only be treated by an interdisciplinary approach. Therefore, before studying the question of the most humane course possible, we must first understand the meaning of dehydration and its repercussions for the dying patient. Inspired by an attitude of respect for a good dying process, we have suggested that it is possible to put forward as a general guideline that medical therapy should be progressively reduced when it has been determined that a patient has reached the terminal stage, or is in an irreversible deteriorating process. We describe the critical somatic, social, psychological, moral and spiritual points, which make up an ethical approach to terminal dehydration (TD). In the total care of the irreversibly terminally ill patient, tolerating TD can be an expression of an authentic and caring involvement in the dying patient's welfare.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗