Ethical Considerations

Research Summary and Ethical Consideration

Introduction Critically ill patients often require lifesaving interventions, such as mechanical ventilation (MV) to replace or assist in spontaneous breathing. To achieve this intervention, a machine called a ventilator is used. Hospitalization that is complicated by intensive care stays and mechanical ventilation is both difficult and stressful for patients and their families. Patients not only have to the endure pain and discomfort associated with MV, but they also are unable to communicate due to an endotreachal tube which has been inserted down their throat. Often, they may also have sedation that accompanies intubations. Patients who are mechanically ventilated are fully dependent on medical
However, not many of those studies were done in Asia. The holistic nursing approach that accounts for a person-centered approach has been used since the early 1990s. According to Frisch (2001), “The holistic nurse is an instrument of healing and a facilitator in the healing process. Holistic nurses honor the individual 's subjective experience about health, health beliefs, and values” (Standards for Holistic Nursing, para. 6). The essence of holistic nursing is to treat and provide care to each patient as an individual and unique entity, and to integrate spiritual and cultural values. The purpose of the study is to explore the subjective experience of patients mechanically ventilated who lived in China, and to validate and broaden previous work. A specific aim of the researchers was to better understand and analyze the experiences of intubated patients and to help nurses develop appropriate approaches to take holistic care of those patients. The researchers demonstrate the significance of the study to nursing practice by combining psychological, and technological interventions with providing compassionate care to help ease discomfort and suffering of mechanically ventilated patients. Finally, they explain that this research findings could enhance understanding of experiences of fear, frustration and suffering of those patients. It is the critical care
Patients who undergo life saving treatments, especially tracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation, are exposed to increased amount of trauma and anxiety. Therefore, studies as the one presented above are necessary to help nurses appreciate the significance of the individual patient experience, and to provide excellent patient care with optimal patient outcomes. Moreover, all the emotions of helplessness, pain, and discomfort, as well as psychological and physiological suffering, can be significantly diminished, or even prevented, if we consider patients