Empirical Ethical Values Promoting Good Caring Encounters with Older Patients and Relatives in a Geriatric Setting

Abstract

Objective: This study describes empirical ethical values promoting good caring encounters with older patients 65, relatives, and care staff in a geriatric clinic.  Methods: Hermeneutic method was used in a secondary analysis, a re-analysis, of data already collected in three previous studies describing empirical ethical values. Data in the previous studies was collected in a geriatric clinic at a county hospital in a medium-sized city in Sweden. In study I were older patients (n = 22) with registered nurses and enrolled nurses observed during caring encounters (n = 57). Study II was an interview study with older patients´ relatives (n = 14). Study III observed encounters with registered nurses (n = 20) who cared for older patients. Result: Empirical ethical values promoting good caring encounters comprising a welcoming environment, moral actions in physical and social movements, showing respect, participation, security, and a worthy start, middle, and end of caring encounters. Conclusion: Bearing these empirical ethical values in mind should help care staff to focus on patient safety and their own ethical values, with the aim to promote good caring encounters with older patients and relatives. Respect establishes the basis for reciprocity, when people in caring encounters trust one another, security ensues and the fundamentals for patient safety fall into place.