RESUMO
This essay, written from my non-doctor's 'lay' perspective, sketches a gradually improving approach to medical ethics over the 40-year period since this journal was founded. A central feature of this improvement has been the increasing focus of medical ethics on the interests and perspectives of the patients/clients/consumers/service users, whose interests doctors and other healthcare workers serve. Events such as misuse of the end of life 'Liverpool Care Pathway' and the shockingly poor care revealed in National Health Service hospitals in Mid-Staffordshire show that these improvements are by no means universal. Nonetheless, there has been a steady improvement in general terms towards putting patients first and it is not flattery to say that in its consistent support for this concern and in its promotion of non-medical involvement in medical ethics education the Journal of Medical Ethics has itself made a significant contribution to 'doing good medical ethics'.
Assuntos
Ética Médica , Medicina Estatal , Humanos , Princípios Morais , Publicações Periódicas como Assunto , Reino UnidoRESUMO
Last year Stephen Wright and Julia Neuberger published a manifesto in Nursing Standard that claimed a central place for spirituality in health care. Here, they reveal the enthusiastic response from some readers--and the fierce opposition, even vitriol, from others.
Assuntos
Atenção à Saúde , Espiritualidade , Humanos , Enfermeiras e EnfermeirosRESUMO
This article presents the case for 'engaged spirituality' as the key to improving nurses' ability to cope under pressure and remain compassionate towards patients. The authors argue that it is not a luxury addition to care, but just as important as skills and resources. A seven-point manifesto for spirituality in nursing sets out the place for spirituality in health care, and calls for changes in education and training to allow all nurses to see themselves and patients as one.