Soins palliatifs et médecine

Abstrait

Attitudes of Neonatal Intensive Care Nurses and Physicians Regarding Quality and Value of Life: Preliminary Results of a Turkish Survey

Muesser Özcan and Nermin Ersoy

This study aimed to find out about the importance attached to maintaining the duration of life and to maintaining the quality of life by physicians and nurses in Turkish neonatal intensive care units (NICU), and how the relation between the two priorities (duration and quality) affected their clinical-ethical decisions. In this study two self-administered questionnaires were used. The questionnaires, the adaptation of the ETTHICAT questionnaire for neonates, were developed by the researchers. The study involved soliciting the views of 66 physicians and 94 nurses in a random selection of 24 research and education hospitals in Turkey. The majority of Turkish NICU practitioners (60.6%) were concerned to maintain life itself if possible, but not at the expense of its quality. In particular, nurses (p=0,037) and neonatologists (p=0,020) placed greater emphasis on protecting the quality of life of the baby. However physicians who described themselves as religious generally preferred maintaining life in all circumstances (p=0,003). In the event of their own child being a high risk neonate, a greater number of NICU practitioners (46%) wanted to maintain the life of the baby even at the expense of its quality of life.