The dual role dilemma of liver transplantation health care professionals
Abstract Background Similar to many other countries, in Germany patients with alcohol-related liver disease are obliged to prove their abstinence before being accepted on a waitlist for liver transplantation. Health care professionals (HCPs) must both treat patients and ensure that patients have pro...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2023-07-01
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| Series: | BMC Medical Ethics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-023-00923-y |
| _version_ | 1797784462076936192 |
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| author | Annette Binder Julia Fenchel Immanuel Lang Anil Batra |
| author_facet | Annette Binder Julia Fenchel Immanuel Lang Anil Batra |
| author_sort | Annette Binder |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Similar to many other countries, in Germany patients with alcohol-related liver disease are obliged to prove their abstinence before being accepted on a waitlist for liver transplantation. Health care professionals (HCPs) must both treat patients and ensure that patients have proven their abstinence. The aim of this exploratory study was to develop a deeper understanding of how HCPs deal with this dual role. Methods The study used semi-structured interviews as the source of data. 11 healthcare professionals from ten of the 22 German transplant centers were interviewed. After transcription, a qualitative content analysis was performed. Results We found that these HCPs faced an ethical dilemma, as they must balance the roles of being both a treatment provider (the therapist role) and an assessor (the monitoring role). To solve this dilemma, the strategy seems to be a tendency for the HCPs to take on one dominant role amongst these two roles. HCPs who prefer to take on the therapist role seem to feel burdened by the 6-month abstinence rule and the obligation to monitor their patients. HCPs who prefer to take on the monitoring role tend to have negative assumptions about the patients. HCPs also reported the impression that patients perceive HCPs as more involved in monitoring and less open to the therapeutic role. From this it can be deduced that current regulations and structures lead both to stress for HCPs and to suboptimal therapy for those affected. Conclusions The results showed that current transplantation guidelines can have a negative impact on both patient care and the burdens on the HCPs. From our point of view, there are various changes that could be made to the current clinical practice that would help solve this dilemma. For instance, integrating other assessment criteria that are more closely adapted to the health status trajectory and psychosocial background of the individual patient would be both possible and would lead to improvements in practice. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T00:40:14Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f713de80c6534622ae9f11d28921582d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1472-6939 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T00:40:14Z |
| publishDate | 2023-07-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Medical Ethics |
| spelling | doaj.art-f713de80c6534622ae9f11d28921582d2023-07-09T11:23:52ZengBMCBMC Medical Ethics1472-69392023-07-0124111310.1186/s12910-023-00923-yThe dual role dilemma of liver transplantation health care professionalsAnnette Binder0Julia Fenchel1Immanuel Lang2Anil Batra3Department of General Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Addiction Medicine and Addiction Research Section, University Hospital TuebingenDepartment of General Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Addiction Medicine and Addiction Research Section, University Hospital TuebingenDepartment of General Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Addiction Medicine and Addiction Research Section, University Hospital TuebingenDepartment of General Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Addiction Medicine and Addiction Research Section, University Hospital TuebingenAbstract Background Similar to many other countries, in Germany patients with alcohol-related liver disease are obliged to prove their abstinence before being accepted on a waitlist for liver transplantation. Health care professionals (HCPs) must both treat patients and ensure that patients have proven their abstinence. The aim of this exploratory study was to develop a deeper understanding of how HCPs deal with this dual role. Methods The study used semi-structured interviews as the source of data. 11 healthcare professionals from ten of the 22 German transplant centers were interviewed. After transcription, a qualitative content analysis was performed. Results We found that these HCPs faced an ethical dilemma, as they must balance the roles of being both a treatment provider (the therapist role) and an assessor (the monitoring role). To solve this dilemma, the strategy seems to be a tendency for the HCPs to take on one dominant role amongst these two roles. HCPs who prefer to take on the therapist role seem to feel burdened by the 6-month abstinence rule and the obligation to monitor their patients. HCPs who prefer to take on the monitoring role tend to have negative assumptions about the patients. HCPs also reported the impression that patients perceive HCPs as more involved in monitoring and less open to the therapeutic role. From this it can be deduced that current regulations and structures lead both to stress for HCPs and to suboptimal therapy for those affected. Conclusions The results showed that current transplantation guidelines can have a negative impact on both patient care and the burdens on the HCPs. From our point of view, there are various changes that could be made to the current clinical practice that would help solve this dilemma. For instance, integrating other assessment criteria that are more closely adapted to the health status trajectory and psychosocial background of the individual patient would be both possible and would lead to improvements in practice.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-023-00923-yEthical dilemmaLiver transplantationAlcohol-related liver disease6-month abstinence rule |
| spellingShingle | Annette Binder Julia Fenchel Immanuel Lang Anil Batra The dual role dilemma of liver transplantation health care professionals BMC Medical Ethics Ethical dilemma Liver transplantation Alcohol-related liver disease 6-month abstinence rule |
| title | The dual role dilemma of liver transplantation health care professionals |
| title_full | The dual role dilemma of liver transplantation health care professionals |
| title_fullStr | The dual role dilemma of liver transplantation health care professionals |
| title_full_unstemmed | The dual role dilemma of liver transplantation health care professionals |
| title_short | The dual role dilemma of liver transplantation health care professionals |
| title_sort | dual role dilemma of liver transplantation health care professionals |
| topic | Ethical dilemma Liver transplantation Alcohol-related liver disease 6-month abstinence rule |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-023-00923-y |
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