Death rattle: palliative nursing practices Delphi study.

OBJECTIVES: Interventions for patients with death rattle remain under consideration, and their families strongly acknowledge the need for improved care. However, few reports exist concerning specific and comprehensive nursing practices for them. This study aimed to clarify nursing practices for patients with death rattle and their families in hospital wards and examine each practice's importance. METHODS: We used a modified Delphi method with expert nurses with extensive experience in end-of-life care. Participants were recruited using convenience and snowball sampling. First, we developed a list of nursing practices through a literature review and individual interviews. Second, we conducted the Delphi survey. Two rounds of judging were performed. Items were rated on a 9-point Likert scale (1=not important at all to 9=very important). An item was considered 'important' if at least 80% of the participants rated it ≥7. RESULTS: The list comprised 40 items across 8 domains: assessment of death rattle and the distress felt by the patients, oral care, repositioning, adjustment of parenteral hydration, suctioning, administration of alleviating medications, communication with and assessment of family members who witness death rattle, and nurse's attitude towards death rattle and the relevant interventions. Of the 46 recruited experts, 42 participated in both rounds. Participants regarded 37 of the 40 items as important. CONCLUSIONS: This study specifically and comprehensively identified nursing practices for patients with death rattle and their families using a modified Delphi method to support clinical nursing practice and improve the quality of care.

Night-time detection and response in relation to deteriorating inpatients: A scoping review.

BACKGROUND: Although detection and response to clinical deterioration have been studied, the range and nature of studies focused on night-time clinical setting remain unclear. AIM: This study aimed to identify and map existing research and findings concerning night-time detection and response to deteriorating inpatients in usual care or research settings. STUDY DESIGN: A scoping review method was used. PubMed, CINAHL, Web of Science, and Ichushi-Web databases were systematically searched. We included studies focusing on night-time detection and response to clinical deterioration. RESULTS: Twenty-eight studies were included. These studies were organized into five categories: night-time medical emergency team or rapid response team (MET/RRT) response, night-time observation using the early warning score (EWS), available resources for physicians' practice, continuous monitoring of specific parameters, and screening for night-time clinical deterioration. The first three categories were related to interventional measures in usual care settings, and relevant findings mainly demonstrated the actual situation and challenges of night-time practice. The final two categories were related to the interventions in the research settings and included innovative interventions to identify at-risk or deteriorating patients. CONCLUSIONS: Systematic interventional measures, such as MET/RRT and EWS, could have been sub-optimally performed at night. Innovations in monitoring technologies or implementation of predictive models could be helpful in improving the detection of night-time deterioration. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: This review provides a compilation of current evidence regarding night-time practice concerning patient deterioration. However, a lack of understanding exists on specific and effective practices regarding timely action for deteriorating patients at night.

Moral distress reduction using moral case deliberation in Japan: A mixed-methods study.

AIMS: This study aims to develop and examine the effectiveness of a support program for reducing moral distress of nurses, based on the moral case deliberation methodology, and to study the feasibility of its implementation. METHODS: Study design was an intervention study with pre/post-comparison. The support program included a short lecture and three moral case deliberation sessions for nurses working in an acute care hospital. The Measure of Moral Distress for Healthcare Professionals (MMD-HP) and the Euro-MCD (Moral Case Deliberation) 2.0 scale were used for pre/post-comparison, using the Wilcoxon's signed-rank test. Furthermore, post-intervention interviews were conducted with consenting participants to determine the reasons for changes in pre/post-intervention quantitative data. Of the 34 participants, 29 completed the post-questionnaire and were included in the quantitative data analysis, and 27 were included in the qualitative data analysis. RESULTS: The mean MMD-HP total scores increased from 147.5 ± 61.0 to 159.3 ± 66.7, but not significantly (p = .375). The mean score of moral competence, a sub-scale of the Euro-MCD 2.0, increased significantly from 15.4 ± 2.4 to 16.4 ± 2.8 after the intervention (p = .036). A qualitative analysis revealed increased moral sensitivity to ethically difficult situations and improved analytical skills as the reasons for change in scores pre/post-intervention. CONCLUSION: The results of the qualitative analysis suggested the effectiveness of the intervention. The moral distress score increased, although not significantly, and moral competence also increased, suggesting the participants' values changed after the intervention. It was found that the support program using MCD is expected to improve participants' moral competence.

Moral distress among critical care nurses: A cross-cultural comparison.

BACKGROUND: Although, moral distress presents a serious problem among critical care nurses in many countries, limited research has been conducted on it. A validated scale has been developed to evaluate moral distress and has enabled cross-cultural comparison for seeking its root causes. RESEARCH AIMS: This study aimed to (1) clarify the current status of moral distress among nurses who worked in critical care areas in Japan, (2) compare the moral distress levels among nurses in Japan with previously reported results from the United States (US), and (3) explore the factors associated with moral distress. RESEARCH DESIGN: A nationwide cross-sectional study was conducted. PARTICIPANTS AND RESEARCH CONTEXT: We conducted a self-administered questionnaire survey using the Measure of Moral Distress-Healthcare Professionals (MMD-HP) among critical care nurses who were randomly selected from hospitals across Japan. The mean differences between the two countries were compared using a Student's t-test with summary statistics. The factors associated with higher levels of moral distress were examined using a multiple regression analysis. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS: The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Tokyo Medical and Dental University (approval nos. M2018-214 and M2019-045). RESULTS: We obtained 955 valid responses from 94 facilities. In Japan, the items with the highest moral distress scores were those related to aggressive/inappropriate treatment. The total MMD-HP score was significantly higher in Japanese nurses compared to US nurses (122.8 ± 70.8 vs 112.3 ± 73.2). Some factors, such as leadership experience, were associated with higher moral distress. DISCUSSION: The top root causes of moral distress were similar to potentially inappropriate treatments in both countries. CONCLUSION: This study revealed the factors associated with higher moral distress and its characteristics in each country. These results can be used for reducing moral distress in the future.

Values and self-perception of behaviour among critical care nurses.

BACKGROUND: Moral distress has various adverse effects on nurses working in critical care. Differences in personal values, and between values and self-perception of behaviour are factors that may cause moral distress. RESEARCH AIMS: The aims of this study were (1) to identify ethical values and self-perception of behaviour of critical care nurses in Japan and (2) to determine the items with a large difference between value and behaviour and the items with a large difference in value from others. RESEARCH DESIGN: A nationwide, cross-sectional study was conducted. PARTICIPANTS AND RESEARCH CONTEXT: We developed a self-administered questionnaire with 28 items, which was completed by 1014 critical care nurses in Japan. The difference between value and self-perception of behaviour was calculated from the score of each value item minus the score of each self-perception of behaviour item. The size of the difference in value from the others was judged by the standard deviation of each item. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS: The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Tokyo Medical and Dental University (approval nos. M2018-214, M2019-045). RESULTS: The items with a large difference between value and behaviour sources were related to the working environment and decision-making support. The items with a large difference in value from others were related to hospital management and disclosure of information to patients. DISCUSSION: Improving the working environment for nurses is important for reducing moral distress. Nurses are faced with a variety of choices, including advocating for patients and protecting the fair distribution of medical resources, and each nurse's priorities might diverge from those of other team members, which can lead to conflict within the team. CONCLUSION: This study revealed items with particularly high risks of moral distress for nurses. The results provide foundational information that can guide the development of strategies to mitigate moral distress.

Development of the nursing practice scale for end-of-life family conferences in critical care.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to develop the Nursing Practice Scale for End-of-life Family conferences in critical care and to clarify the current status of nursing practice regarding family conferences. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY/DESIGN: We conducted a cross-sectional, self-administered questionnaire survey with 955 critical care unit nurses in 97 hospitals. Content validity, factor validity and criterion-related validity, known-group validity, internal consistency and test-retest reliability were evaluated. Data were then analysed statistically. SETTING: Adult intensive care units or high dependency units in Japan. RESULTS: Three factors with 39 items were extracted through item analysis and confirmatory factor analysis as hypothesised (Factor 1: Preparation, Factor 2: Discussion and Factor 3: Follow-up), and the mean score per item for each factor was 3.57, 3.73 and 3.75, respectively. Nurses who had any certification or had worked in critical care unit for >5 years had a significantly greater score than the others. The Cronbach's α were 0.86-0.96 and the intraclass correlation coefficients were 0.79-0.87. CONCLUSION: The Nursing Practice Scale for End-of-life Family conferences in critical care is a valid and reliable scale. This study could effectively facilitate communication among patients, their families and healthcare providers.