Legal Regulations and the Anticipation of Moral Distress of Prospective Nurses: A Comparison of Selected Undergraduate Nursing Education Programmes
Moral distress is commonly experienced by nurses in all settings. This bears the risk of a reduced quality of care, burnout and withdrawal from the profession. One approach to the prevention and management of moral distress is ethical competence development in undergraduate nursing education. Profes...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-10-01
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| Series: | Healthcare |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/10/10/2074 |
| _version_ | 1797440959630278656 |
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| author | Karen Klotz Annette Riedel Sonja Lehmeyer Magdalene Goldbach |
| author_facet | Karen Klotz Annette Riedel Sonja Lehmeyer Magdalene Goldbach |
| author_sort | Karen Klotz |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Moral distress is commonly experienced by nurses in all settings. This bears the risk of a reduced quality of care, burnout and withdrawal from the profession. One approach to the prevention and management of moral distress is ethical competence development in undergraduate nursing education. Profession-specific legal regulations function as a foundation for the decision on the educational content within these programmes. This theoretical article presents the extent to which legal regulations may open framework conditions that allow for the comprehensive preparation of prospective nurses to manage moral distress. The legal frameworks and the immediate responsibilities regarding their realisation in the context of undergraduate nursing education vary slightly for the three chosen examples of Switzerland, Austria and Germany. While an increased awareness of ethics’ education is represented within the nursing laws, no definite presumption can be made regarding whether undergraduate nursing students will be taught the ethical competencies required to manage moral distress. It remains up to the curriculum design, the schools of nursing and instructors to create an environment that allows for the realisation of corresponding learning content. For the future, the establishment of professional nursing associations may help to emphasise acutely relevant topics, including moral distress, in undergraduate nursing education. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T12:15:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-878109f21583450eb55aa29d29de6223 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2227-9032 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T12:15:58Z |
| publishDate | 2022-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Healthcare |
| spelling | doaj.art-878109f21583450eb55aa29d29de62232023-11-30T22:46:12ZengMDPI AGHealthcare2227-90322022-10-011010207410.3390/healthcare10102074Legal Regulations and the Anticipation of Moral Distress of Prospective Nurses: A Comparison of Selected Undergraduate Nursing Education ProgrammesKaren Klotz0Annette Riedel1Sonja Lehmeyer2Magdalene Goldbach3Faculty of Social Work, Education and Nursing Sciences, University of Applied Sciences, Flandernstr. 101, 73732 Esslingen, GermanyFaculty of Social Work, Education and Nursing Sciences, University of Applied Sciences, Flandernstr. 101, 73732 Esslingen, GermanyFaculty of Social Work, Education and Nursing Sciences, University of Applied Sciences, Flandernstr. 101, 73732 Esslingen, GermanyFaculty of Social Work, Education and Nursing Sciences, University of Applied Sciences, Flandernstr. 101, 73732 Esslingen, GermanyMoral distress is commonly experienced by nurses in all settings. This bears the risk of a reduced quality of care, burnout and withdrawal from the profession. One approach to the prevention and management of moral distress is ethical competence development in undergraduate nursing education. Profession-specific legal regulations function as a foundation for the decision on the educational content within these programmes. This theoretical article presents the extent to which legal regulations may open framework conditions that allow for the comprehensive preparation of prospective nurses to manage moral distress. The legal frameworks and the immediate responsibilities regarding their realisation in the context of undergraduate nursing education vary slightly for the three chosen examples of Switzerland, Austria and Germany. While an increased awareness of ethics’ education is represented within the nursing laws, no definite presumption can be made regarding whether undergraduate nursing students will be taught the ethical competencies required to manage moral distress. It remains up to the curriculum design, the schools of nursing and instructors to create an environment that allows for the realisation of corresponding learning content. For the future, the establishment of professional nursing associations may help to emphasise acutely relevant topics, including moral distress, in undergraduate nursing education.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/10/10/2074ethicsnursing ethicsmoral distressnursing educationethics traininghigher education |
| spellingShingle | Karen Klotz Annette Riedel Sonja Lehmeyer Magdalene Goldbach Legal Regulations and the Anticipation of Moral Distress of Prospective Nurses: A Comparison of Selected Undergraduate Nursing Education Programmes Healthcare ethics nursing ethics moral distress nursing education ethics training higher education |
| title | Legal Regulations and the Anticipation of Moral Distress of Prospective Nurses: A Comparison of Selected Undergraduate Nursing Education Programmes |
| title_full | Legal Regulations and the Anticipation of Moral Distress of Prospective Nurses: A Comparison of Selected Undergraduate Nursing Education Programmes |
| title_fullStr | Legal Regulations and the Anticipation of Moral Distress of Prospective Nurses: A Comparison of Selected Undergraduate Nursing Education Programmes |
| title_full_unstemmed | Legal Regulations and the Anticipation of Moral Distress of Prospective Nurses: A Comparison of Selected Undergraduate Nursing Education Programmes |
| title_short | Legal Regulations and the Anticipation of Moral Distress of Prospective Nurses: A Comparison of Selected Undergraduate Nursing Education Programmes |
| title_sort | legal regulations and the anticipation of moral distress of prospective nurses a comparison of selected undergraduate nursing education programmes |
| topic | ethics nursing ethics moral distress nursing education ethics training higher education |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/10/10/2074 |
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