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CC BY 4.0 · Indian J Med Paediatr Oncol 2025; 46(02): 134-141
DOI: 10.1055/s-0044-1790583
Review Article

Ethical Dilemmas and the Moral Distress Commonly Experienced by Oncology Nurses: A Narrative Review from a Bioethics Consortium from India

Manjeshwar Shrinath Baliga 
1   Department of Education, International Program, International Chair in Bioethics, World Medical Association Cooperating Centre (Formerly UNESCO Chair in Bioethics University of Haifa), Haifa, Israel
2   The Bioethics SAARC Nodal Centre, International Network Bioethics at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi, Kerala, India
3   Bioethics Education & Research Unit at Mangalore Institute of Oncology, Mangalore, Karnataka, India
,
Seema Chauhan
4   College of Nursing, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Gorakhpur, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India
,
Ani Grace Kalaimathi
5   Tamilnadu Nursing Council, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
,
Lal P. Madathil
1   Department of Education, International Program, International Chair in Bioethics, World Medical Association Cooperating Centre (Formerly UNESCO Chair in Bioethics University of Haifa), Haifa, Israel
2   The Bioethics SAARC Nodal Centre, International Network Bioethics at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi, Kerala, India
3   Bioethics Education & Research Unit at Mangalore Institute of Oncology, Mangalore, Karnataka, India
,
Thomas George
6   Department of Internal Medicine, Coney Island Hospital, Brooklyn, New York, United States
,
Russell Franco D'souza
1   Department of Education, International Program, International Chair in Bioethics, World Medical Association Cooperating Centre (Formerly UNESCO Chair in Bioethics University of Haifa), Haifa, Israel
7   Directorate of the Asia Pacific Division and Education Department, Melbourne, Australia
,
Princy Louis Palatty 
2   The Bioethics SAARC Nodal Centre, International Network Bioethics at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi, Kerala, India
8   Department of Pharmacology, Amrita School of Medicine, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Ernakulam, Kerala, India
› Author Affiliations Funding None.
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Abstract

Nurses working in oncology frequently have to make tough moral choices, such as how to break bad news or how to make sure a dying patient receives good palliative or end-of-life care. In the context of patient care, this may limit the ethical and moral options available to nurses. This can cause moral dissonance and ethical insensitivity on the job and can be very stressful. To be able to meet ethical problems in trying times calls for capacity to recognize and know how to manage the concerns. The purpose of this article was to describe common ethical challenges and to present some methods that may be helpful when confronting them. This narrative review discusses the ethical standards that oncology nurses should uphold and implement in their daily work. Many common ethical dilemmas are also explored, and the study hopes to shed light on how novice nurses, such as students and fresh recruits, may experience when caring for cancer patients and their family caregivers. Importantly, this review also addresses aspects of how nurses can improve their skills so that they can deal with the ethical quandaries and moral discomfort that arise on a daily basis in cancer care.

Keywords

ethical dilemmas - moral distress - oncology nurses - bioethics

Patient Consent

Patient consent is not required due to the retrospective nature of the study.




Publication History

Article published online:
07 October 2024

© 2024. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is properly cited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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