ENDA Abstracts book Enda Abstract book 16_07_2017_1 | Page 63

Claudia Cianfrocca RN MSN PhD Student in Nursing and Public Health; University of Rome "Campus Bio Medico" 21 Via Álvaro del Portillo. 00128 Rome, IT [email protected] Daniela Tartaglini, Associate Professor in Nursing University of Rome "Campus Bio Medico" University of Rome "Campus Bio Medico"Rome, IT [email protected] Daniele Donati, RN MSN PhD Student in Nursing and Public Health University of Rome "Campus Bio Medico" University of Rome "Campus Bio Medico" Rome, IT [email protected] ETHICAL ISSUES REGARDING QUALITY IMPROVEMENT AND MORAL DISTRESS IN NURSING: A LITERATURE REVIEW Nurses are committed to providing quality nursing care, as stated in the International Code of Nursing Ethics (2012). Despite Quality Improvement(QI) being the main goal for every hospital, nursing shortages, financial restrictions, and the continuing change of the health care world, leave professionals with ethical dilemmas and moral distress when providing patient care. QI has been defined as systematic data-guided activities designed to bring about immediate improvements in health care delivery. Moral distress is described as a feeling associated with moral choices and with knowing the morally correct action to take but not being able to take it due to institutional constraints or barriers. The analysis of the articles showed that even if physicians, nurses, and other clinicians have a special ethical responsibility to serve the interests of their patients - including the responsibility to maintain and continually strive to improve the quality of care - the activities related to QI should be judged by the same standards used for the traditional human subject research. Since QI activities directly involve patients they need to be submitted to ethical review. QI is an intrinsic part of good clinical care, however, professionals perceive that quality of care can decrease especially because of moral distress, which influences clinical practice and even quality. QI is as connected to patient's life as it is connected with nurses' profession. These connections need further study and they must be considered by nursing leaders in order to provide ethical and quality nursing care from all points of view. Keywords: Ethic, Moral Distress, Quality Improvement, Nursing Congress Topics: Ethics in the Workplace Ivica 61 | Benko RN, BScN, MScN, MSc HQM