Conscientious objection – does it also apply to nursing students?

The conscientious clause in nursing can be defined as a kind of special ethical and legal regulation which gives nurses right to object to actively perform certain medical procedures which are against their personal system of values. Usually these values are associated with nurses’ religious beliefs, but not always. Scope of this regulation differs throughout the world. However, it is emphasized that right to the conscientious objection is not absolute and this regulation can not be used in cases of danger to life or serious damage to the health of the patient. Medical procedures to which nurses hold conscientious objection are often within reproductive health services. However, we can also find reports on the use of this right i.e. in end-of-life care and in the process of the implementation of medical experiments. The main issue underlined in the discussion regarding practising conscientious objection in the clinical setting is the collision of two human rights: the right to conscientious objection of medical personnel and the right of patients to specific medical procedures which are legal in their country. If a procedure is legally available in a country it means that patients can expect to receive it, on the other hand, all citizens, including health care workers, have the right to protect their moral identity and the right to object to the implementation of a procedure to which they have a specific objection. It is very difficult to find good ethical and legal balance between these two perspectives

Academic careers: the value of individual mentorship on research career progression

The paper discusses how individual mentoring may impact positively on career pathway development for potential and future clinical academic researchers in nursing and allied health professions. Methods: The paper draws on a number of data sources and methodologies in order to fulfil the aims. Firstly, international literature provides an insight into mentoring processes and impact on career development. This is followed by a review of the mentoring experiences based on a UK study on the professorial populations in nursing and allied health professions. The final section reports on results of interviews with early and advanced researchers on their experiences of mentoring. Results: Individual mentoring is valued highly by health care professionals at all stages of career development. It is considered particularly useful when people are in transition towards a more challenging career role.Individuals in receipt of mentoring both formal and informal, report improved confidence in their cability to achieve their career goals. Mentees report improved levels of competence achieved through knowledge aquisition, networking and ability to probelm solve. Conclusions/Summary: Mentoring is considered an important process for health care professionals at all stages of their career. Opportunities to access and receive mentoring support for health care staff in the UK remain limited and sporadic in nature. There are examples of excellent mentoring schemes in place within some institutons and organisations but a national strategy to support mentoring has yet to be developed Key words: Clinical academic careers, mentoring, nursing, allied health profession

Care concept in medical and nursing students' descriptions: philosophical approach and implications for medical education

Introduction. Care is seen as something that is peculiar to the medical sciences but its meaning and status for physicians and nurses differs. Objectives. The aim of this research was to learn how nursing and medical students understand and define care, and how their definition and views on their practice of caring change as they advance through their studies. Material and methods. The study was conducted among two groups of students: before and after their first practicum (n=102). Analysis of the students' answers was carried out using Colaizzi's phenomenological descriptive methodology, which means that a qualitative approach was used. Results. The qualitative analysis shows that the medical and nursing students define care in the same way, using 9 main categories: compassion, commitment, competence, confidence, conscience, communication, patience, courage and support. The nursing students viewed their caring to be within both practical and emotional dimensions and this was a core feature of their identity as nurses. Medical students, on the other hand, viewed the practical dimension of care as an additional activity. All the students in the study underlined the importance of having time to care and showed that, for them, 'time' in this context has a moral meaning. What was interesting to the research team centered on the initial attitudes to 'caring' from both medical and nursing students. Conclusions. We found that students of both nursing and medicine do not begin their studies with different attitudes and concepts of care. However, after their initial exposure to practical placements a process begins which forges different identities around the concept of care. This implies trends in the division of professional roles during their initial education

Spiritual care competence and caring abilities among Polish nurses: a correlation descriptive study

Background: Spiritual care is an obligatory aspect of nursing care for a patient at the end of life and play an important role in providing quality nursing care. The aim of this study was to describe level of spiritual care competence and caring abilities of Polish nurses, and to examine the relationship between them. Participants and methods: In the study based on the Caring Ability Inventory (CAI) and the Spiritual Care Competence Scale (SCCS) questionnaires descriptive, correlational, cross-sectional design was adopted. The study involved 451 clinical nurses. Results: Respondents’ overall score of SCCS was high (median = 101.22; mean = 103.00; SD = 17.14) and low in the overall score of CAI (median = 185.44; mean = 185.00; SD = 21.05). The respondents who believe that nurses should assess the patient’s spiritual needs obtained statistically higher scores in all subscales and the overall score of SCCS and CAI. The total score of spiritual care competence was also positively correlated with the level of caring abilities (p < 0.01). The caring abilities and competences to provide spiritual care of Polish nurses correlate, among others, with their age, professional experience, level of education and job satisfaction. Conclusions: The implementation by academic teachers and nursing managers of strategies promoting patient-centred nursing care and humanistic values will contribute to strengthening the caring abilities of nurses and the skills to provide spiritual care to patients especially in the most basic human experience of dying

Rationing of health care services to the elderly in the opinion of staff hospital emergency departments

Abstract Introduction. Rationing of medical services is based on several rules, among which stand out the ethical rules. This means equal access to health care for everyone regardless of age, religion, gender or social status. Possible discrimination because of age is called ageism, which consists of resentment, making unjust and unfair judgment or abusive choices in relation to the elderly. Purpose of the work. The aim of this study was to investigate the views of staff of hospital emergency departments on the ethical aspects of the rationing of health care services to the elderly. Material and methods. The study was conducted in 2017 in a group of 60 nurses and 60 paramedics working in emergency departments Lublin province. Diagnostic survey method was used. The collected material was subjected to statistical analysis using the software SPSS IBM Statistic. Results. The age of the patient, in determining order of medical care, was important to 18.4% (n = 22) tested. For nurses, the criterion of age was statistically more significant than for paramedics (

The virtue of compassion in medical professions

Introduction: The ethics of treatment virtues is currently one of the major ethical trends that enjoys great interest, especially among representatives of medical professions. Medical education is mainly based on character training i.e. preparing students for fulfilling determined roles and attitudes. It is based to exemplarism, mentoring and underlines the importance of master– student relations. A characteristic feature of these types of professions is the fidelity to ethos and moral values cultivated for hundreds of years. Objective: The aim of this article is to present the role of compassion virtue in the work of medical professionals and to provide examples of applying knowledge from this field to clinical and educational practice. Conclusions: The theory of virtues applied to the field of medical ethics allowing for the creation of a catalogue of moral dispositions necessary for adequate fulfilment of professional duties by health care providers. One of the most favoured virtues is that of compassion. This moral disposition is considered, by some theoreticians of the medical and nursing principles, a key and fundamental attribute of a good doctor and nurse. The virtue of compassion due to its typical components i.e. the moral and intellectual dimension, ensures the realization of the goal of medical profession, as well as expectations and needs of a specific patient, undergoing the treatment process. The fully developed virtue of compassion helps to maintain the balance between overprotection and excessive identification with the patient's fate and lack of empathy and formalism. That way the virtue of compassion allows for pursuing medical goals by fulfilling all standards and guidelines in a caring and empathetic way

The life satisfaction of Polish nurses at the retirement age = Satysfakcja z życia pielęgnairek w wieku emerytalnym

Pietraszek Agata, Charzyńska-Gula Marianna, Dobrowolska Beata, Stanisławek Andrzej, Łuczyk Marta. The life satisfaction of Polish nurses at the retirement age = Satysfakcja z życia pielęgnairek w wieku emerytalnym. Journal of Education, Health and Sport. 2016;6(9):333-344. eISSN 2391-8306. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.61885http://ojs.ukw.edu.pl/index.php/johs/article/view/3806https://pbn.nauka.gov.pl/sedno-webapp/works/746747   The journal has had 7 points in Ministry of Science and Higher Education parametric evaluation. Part B item 755 (23.12.2015).755 Journal of Education, Health and Sport eISSN 2391-8306 7© The Author (s) 2016;This article is published with open access at Licensee Open Journal Systems of Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, PolandOpen Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,provided the original author(s) and source are credited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercialuse, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper.Received: 05.08.2016. Revised 25.08.2016. Accepted: 06.09.2016.  The life satisfaction of Polish nurses at the retirement ageSatysfakcja z życia pielęgnairek w wieku emerytalnym Agata Pietraszek1, Marianna Charzyńska-Gula2, Beata Dobrowolska3, Andrzej Stanisławek1, Marta Łuczyk1  Chair of Oncology and Environmental Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Medical University of Lublin, PolandFaculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Higher Vocational School Memorial of Prof. Stanislaw Tarnowski in Tarnobrzeg, PolandChair of Development in Nursing. Faculty of Health Sciences, Medical University of Lublin, Poland  Corresponding author:AgataPietraszek, Chair of Oncology and Community Health Care, Medical University of Lublin;StanisławaStaszica4/6 (Collegium Maximum), 20-081 Lublin, Poland; telephone: +48 609456804; fax: +48 81 4486811  email: [email protected], [email protected]  AbstractBackground: Research on the life satisfaction of nurses at the retirement age can help identify elements which have an impact on this aspect of the quality of nurses’ life. In spite of the number of studies available in the field there is still no consistent data regarding the issue of life satisfaction among nurses at this stage of life.The aim of the study was to explore chosen factors associated with the life satisfaction of Polish nurses at the retirement age.Methods: A quantitative approach was adopted. Data was collected using a survey questionnaire to be completed by 135 nurses (100%) at the retirement age from seven randomly chosen District Chambers of Nurses and Midwives in Poland. Two research tools were used: a questionnaire developed by the authors and the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) by E. Diener. The collected data was analysed using  STATISTICA version 10.0.Results:  Statistically significant variables affecting the level of life satisfaction included the type of professional activity, type of workplace and managerial functions served, and also affiliation with a given District Chamber of Nurses and Midwives. There was no significant correlation between the level of life satisfaction and the level of job satisfaction among the nurses surveyed.Conclusions: A correlation was identified between some elements of professional activity and the life satisfaction of nurses at the retirement age. This should be taken into account when considering different aspects of the organisation of nurses’ work. In the light of the changes of retirement schemes across the world a broader discussion is needed regarding the issue of the life satisfaction of nurses at the retirement age in order to study the possible correlations between their professional activity and satisfaction with life. Developing a clear strategy for planning the forms of activation of retired nurses and using their potential and experience in the healthcare system is recommended, especially given the situation of nurses shortage. Key words: Ageing,  Job satisfaction, Nurses, Personal satisfaction, Poland, Retiremen

Nurses' spiritual attitudes and involvement-Validation of the Polish version of the Spiritual Attitude and Involvement List

Spirituality is vital in the holistic approach to nursing care. The personal spirituality of nurses has been documented to have an impact on the spiritual nursing care they provide

Health-promoting activities performed by nurses for patients with COPD

Wstęp: Przewlekła obturacyjna choroba płuc (POChP) stanowi czwartą przyczynę zgonów na świecie. Wśród działań, które powinna podejmować pielęgniarka w stosunku do chorego na POChP, podkreśla się przede wszystkim znaczenie tych, które można określić jako promujące zdrowie.Celem pracy jest analiza częstości i charakteru podejmowanych przez pielęgniarki działań wchodzących w zakres promocji zdrowia wobec pacjentów z POChP.Materiał i metody: Dokonano analizy ilościowej danych zebranych od 132 pielęgniarek (100%) zatrudnionych w zamkniętej i otwartej opiece zdrowotnej województwa lubelskiego. Zastosowano metodę sondażu diagnostycznego, wykorzystując kwestionariusz ankiety własnego autorstwa. Materiał zgromadzono w 2008 roku.Wyniki: Pielęgniarki pracujące w szpitalach znacznie częściej uczestniczyły w diagnozowaniu POChP (62,30%) aniżeli pielęgniarki podstawowej opieki zdrowotnej (33,40%). Poradnictwo antytytoniowe realizowało 69% respondentów. Badane pielęgniarki rzadko używają profesjonalnych narzędzi do pomiaru i oceny stopnia uzależnienia od nikotyny (6%) oraz do pomiaru poziomu motywacji do walki z nałogiem (4%). Prowadzenie edukacji zdrowotnej wobec chorych na POChP deklarowało 66,67% pielęgniarek z POZ i 76,81% pielęgniarek zatrudnionych w szpitalach. Pielęgniarki nie prowadzą monitoringu udzielanych przez siebie porad oraz nie poddają ocenie ich skuteczności. O udziale w programach wielodyscyplinarnej rehabilitacji oddechowej mówiło tylko 9,53% ankietowanych z POZ oraz 40,58% ankietowanych ze szpitali.Wnioski: Prowadzone przez pielęgniarki działania w stosunku do chorego na POChP mają charakter głównie edukacyjny, niestety są jednak powierzchowne, okazjonalne i nie mają znamion zaplanowanego procesu. Zaleca się planowe, formalne włączenie pielęgniarek w realizację programów promocji zdrowia w grupie chorych na POChP poprzez zaplanowanie środków finansowych na realizowane przez nie zadania, jak również zwrócenie większej uwagi na przygotowanie pielęgniarek do realizacji procesu edukacji zdrowotnej, szczególnie poradnictwa antynikotynowego.Introduction: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the fourth most common cause of death in the world. The significance of health promotion is usually emphasised among the activities which nurses should undertake in relation to patients suffering from COPD. The aim of the study was to analyse the frequency and types of health promotion activities undertaken by nurses in relation to patients suffering from COPD.Material and methods: The diagnostic survey with the use of a questionnaire constructed by the authors was applied in the study. Data collected in 2008 among 132 nurses (100%) working in outpatient and hospital healthcare sectors in Poland were quantitatively analysed.Results: Nurses working in hospitals more frequently took part in diagnosing COPD (62.30%) than those working in outpatient establishments did (33.40%). Anti-smoking counselling was performed by 69% of respondents. Nurses very rarely used professional tools for the measurement of the level of nicotine addiction (6%) or the level of motivation to fight the addiction (4%). Activities in terms of health education carried out on a patient with COPD were declared by 66.67% of primary care nurses, and by 76.81% from hospitals. The nurses surveyed did not perform any monitoring of their recommendations and did not assess their effectiveness. Participation in interdisciplinary pulmonary rehabilitation programmes was declared by 9.53% of outpatient sector nurses and by 40.58% of nurses from hospitals.Conclusions: Nurses’ activities in relation to patients suffering from COPD have a mainly educational nature, but unfortunately they are casual, occasional and unplanned. Planned and formal inclusion of nurses in the process of realisation of health promotion programs for patients with COPD is recommended, i.e. by planning funds for the tasks which can be performed by them. More attention should be payed to professional training of nurses for realisation of the process of health education, especially anti-smoking intervention

Wartościowanie zdrowia w opinii pielęgniarek w odniesieniu do zmiennych społeczno – demograficznych = Health evaluation with relation to socio-demographic variables – nurses’ opinions

Deluga Alina, Dobrowolska Beata, Kosicka Bogumiła, Brzozowska Agnieszka. Wartościowanie zdrowia w opinii pielęgniarek w odniesieniu do zmiennych społeczno – demograficznych = Health evaluation with relation to socio-demographic variables – nurses’ opinions. Journal of Education, Health and Sport. 2016;6(4):167-180. eISSN 2391-8306. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.50028http://ojs.ukw.edu.pl/index.php/johs/article/view/3460 The journal has had 7 points in Ministry of Science and Higher Education parametric evaluation. Part B item 755 (23.12.2015).755 Journal of Education, Health and Sport eISSN 2391-8306 7© The Author (s) 2016;This article is published with open access at Licensee Open Journal Systems of Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, PolandOpen Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,provided the original author(s) and source are credited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercialuse, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper.Received: 20.03.2016. Revised 17.04.2016. Accepted: 17.04.2016.  Wartościowanie zdrowia w opinii pielęgniarek w odniesieniu do zmiennych społeczno – demograficznych Health evaluation with relation to socio-demographic variables – nurses’ opinions Alina Deluga, Beata Dobrowolska, Bogumiła Kosicka, Agnieszka Brzozowska 1. dr n med. Alina DelugaAlina Deluga, MSc, PhDZakład Medycyny Rodzinnej i Pielęgniarstwa Środowiskowego, UM LublinDepartment of Family Medicine and Community Nursing, Medical University of Lublin 2. dr n hum. Beata DobrowolskaBeata Dobrowolska, MSc, PhDKatedra Rozwoju Pielęgniarstwa, UM LublinDepartment of Nursing Development, Medical University of Lublin 3. dr n med. Bogumiła KosickaBogumila Kosicka, MSc, PhDKatedra i Zakład Zarządzania w Pielęgniarstwie, UM LublinDepartment of Management in Nursing, Medical University of Lublin 4. mgr Agnieszka Brzozowska Agnieszka Brzozowska, MScZakład Matematyki i Biostatystyki Medycznej, UM LublinDepartment of Mathematics and Medical Biostatistics, Medical University of Lublin  Słowa kluczowe: wartościowanie zdrowia, pielęgniarki, zmienne społeczno-demograficzneKey words: health evaluation, nurses, socio-demographic variables  Streszczenie WstępZdrowie stanowi jedną z najważniejszych wartości, na podstawie której dokonuje się wyboru zachowań zdrowotnych będących składową stylu życia człowieka. Cel pracyCelem pracy jest ocena wartości zdrowia w opinii pielęgniarek w zależności od zmiennych społeczno – demograficznych.Materiał i metodyBadania przeprowadzono w 2014 i 2015 roku. Objęto nimi 191 pielęgniarek, będących studentami – studiów pomostowych licencjackich i magisterskich w wieku od 22 do 47 lat. Do zebrania materiału użyto standaryzowanego narzędzia badawczego – LKZ (Lista Kryteriów Zdrowia), autorstwa Z. Juczyńskiego. WynikiPrzeprowadzone badania wykazały, że pielęgniarki najwyższą wagę przypisują zdrowiu rozumianemu w kategorii właściwość i stan, określanemu przez stwierdzenia „nie odczuwać żadnych dolegliwości fizycznych”, „mieć sprawne wszystkie części ciała” oraz „czuć się szczęśliwym przez większość czasu”. Ankietowani po 40 roku życia, będący w związku małżeńskim, zamieszkujący małe miasta istotnie częściej wybierali kryterium zdrowia „nie odczuwać żadnych dolegliwości fizycznych”, (p=0,03) w porównaniu z badanymi z młodszych grup wiekowych, którzy częściej wskazywali na kryterium „potrafić dobrze współżyć z innymi ludźmi” (p=0,01).WnioskiOcena znaczenia i wartościowania zdrowia jest ważnym elementem oceny świadomości prozdrowotnej pielęgniarek i jest zależna od zmiennych społeczno-demograficznych. Pielęgniarki najwyższą wagę przypisują zdrowiu utożsamianemu z właściwością i stanem, co charakteryzuje instrumentalne podejście do zdrowia.    AbstractIntroductionHealth constitutes one of the most important values in human life and the basis for people’s decisions on their health behaviours which are components of their lifestyle.Aim The main aim of this paper is to evaluate the value of health in the opinion of nurses with relation to socio-demographic variables. Material and methods The study was carried out in years 2014 and 2015. It included 191 nurses who were students of nursing, both of bachelor bridging and master studies, from 22 to 47 years of age. The data were collected with a standardized research tool – the List of Health Criteria (LKZ Lista Kryteriów Zdrowia) by Z. Juczyński. OutcomesThe study outcome showed that the respondents pay much attention mainly to health understood in the categories of property and state, described by the following statements: „not experiencing any ailments”, “having all the body parts healthy” and “feeling happy most of the time”. Those surveyed at the age of 40 plus, married and living in small towns more often chose the health criterion „not experiencing any ailments” (p = 0.03) than those younger ones who primarily marked the category “being able to efficiently coexist with other people” (p=0.01).Conclusions Health evaluation and significance are prominent elements of pro-health awareness in the nurses. Moreover, they/health behaviours depend on socio-demographic variables. The nurses pay much attention to health being associated with property and state, which characterizes an instrumental approach to health