TY - JOUR 
A1 - Velarde García, Juan Francisco
AU - Luengo González, Raquel
AU - González Hervías, Raquel
AU - Cardenete Reyes, César 
AU - Álvarez Embarba, Beatriz
AU - Palacios Ceña, Domingo
T1 - Limitation of therapeutic effort experienced by intensive care nurses
Y1 - 2018
SN - 0969-7330

UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11268/7818
AB - Background: Nurses who practice limitation of therapeutic effort become fully involved in emotionally
charged situations, which can affect them significantly on an emotional and professional level.
Objectives: To describe the experience of intensive care nurses practicing limitation of therapeutic effort.
Method: A qualitative, phenomenological study was performed within the intensive care units of the
Madrid Hospitals Health Service. Purposeful and snowball sampling methods were used, and data
collection methods included semi-structured and unstructured interviews, researcher field notes, and
participants’ personal letters. The Giorgi proposal for data analysis was used on the data.
Ethical considerations: This study was approved by the Ethical Research Committee of the relevant
hospital and by the Ethics Committee of the Rey Juan Carlos University and was guided by the ethical
principles of voluntary enrollment, anonymity, privacy, and confidentiality.
Results: In total, 22 nurses participated and 3 themes were identified regarding the nurses’ experiences
when faced with limitation of therapeutic effort: (a) experiencing relief, (b) accepting the medical decision,
and (c) implementing limitation of therapeutic effort.
Conclusion: Nurses felt that, although they were burdened with the responsibility of implementing
limitation of therapeutic effort, they were being left out of the final decision-making process regarding
the same.
KW - Enfermería
KW - Cuidados intensivos
KW - Personal paramédico
KW - Tratamiento médico
KW - Estudio del trabajo
LA - eng
ER -