Intensive care unit nurses' opinions about euthanasia

Kumas G., Oeztunc G., Alparslan Z. N.

NURSING ETHICS, cilt.14, sa.5, ss.637-650, 2007 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 14 Sayı: 5
  • Basım Tarihi: 2007
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1177/0969733007075889
  • Dergi Adı: NURSING ETHICS
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.637-650
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: death, euthanasia, intensive care unit, nursing, ACTIVE EUTHANASIA, VOLUNTARY EUTHANASIA, ATTITUDES, MEMBERS
  • Çukurova Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

This study was conducted to gain opinions about euthanasia from nurses who work in intensive care units. The research was planned as a descriptive study and conducted with 186 nurses who worked in intensive care units in a university hospital, a public hospital, and a private not-for-profit hospital in Adana, Turkey, and who agreed to complete a questionnaire. Euthanasia is not legal in Turkey. One third (33.9%) of the nurses supported the legalization of euthanasia, whereas 39.8% did not. In some specific circumstances, 44.1% of the nurses thought that euthanasia was being practiced in our country. The most significant finding was that these Turkish intensive care unit nurses did not overwhelmingly support the legalization of euthanasia. Those who did support it were inclined to agree with Passive rather than active euthanasia (P = 0.011).