Explaining ethical challenges and practical solutions from a nursing managements’ perspective: A phenomenological study

ABSTRACT Introduction and Objective: Ethical practice is a vital aspect of nursing interventions. Complying with the ethical aspects of the intervention procedure in a stressful nursing environment is not easy and nurse managers always face ethical challenges which are in conflict with their personal values and norms. Identifying and solving these challenges improves the efficiency and effectiveness of nursing care activities. Therefore, this research was done to explain the ethical challenges of nurse managers and practical solutions from their perspective. Material and Method: It is a qualitative study that was carried out based on the phenomenological method in 2022. The participants of this study were 20 nurse managers of Arak hospitals who were selected by purposive sampling until data saturation. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews for 30 to 90 minutes. Data collection was carried out with the participant’s consent, using a digital recording device and verbatim transcription, and then it was analyzed using Van Manen’s six-step hermeneutic phenomenological approach. Findings: The results of this study could provide a clear picture of ethical challenges and their practical solutions from the nurse managers’ perspective in the form of four themes of managerial ethical challenges which include challenges facing physicians, organizations, employees, managers, and three themes for practical solutions, including organizational solutions, interpersonal solutions, and educational solutions which were manifested. Conclusion: Nurse managers are always faced with ethical challenges in their daily activities. To deal with these challenges, they must be familiar with the rules and principles of professional ethics, practical standards, and laws related to patients’ rights. Ethical principles and awareness of the ethical decision-making process are useful and effective in having capable and ethical nurses who provide competent care. To deal with ethical challenges, it is suggested to consider self-care strategies and structural and specialized support in each center, which will ultimately lead to the improvement of service quality and the promotion of ethics in care-treatment environments.