Author(s)

Nami Tanimizu^1*, Yuko Hayashi¹, Chiharu Akazawa², Akihiro Shuda³, Kuniko Hagiwara⁴, Tomoko Imanishi⁵

¹Faculty of Nursing, Kansai Medical University, Osaka, Japan.
²Faculty of Nursing, Osaka Medical College, Osaka, Japan.
³Graduate School of Human Health Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo, Japan.
⁴Department of Nursing, Osaka University Hospital, Osaka, Japan.
⁵Department of Nursing, Kyoto University of Advanced Science, Kyoto, Japan.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how participation in action research will change nursing activities in dealing with ethical issues experienced in daily nursing settings of organ transplantation. The action research here is comprised of four types of sessions: clarification of wishes (1^st session), meetings to talk about matters experienced, study meetings, and reflections (final session). In the first and final sessions, group interviews about ethical practices were conducted. Recorded data from the interviews and 4^th meeting to talk about experiences were analyzed using WordMiner1.5. Participants had the individual need, “wish to improve understanding of ethics in their own skills to promote ethical practices and ethical interests”. Then, they became aware of “ethical practice in placing importance on the relationship with patients/their families and ethics attitudes as nurses”. This awareness was connected to “sharing ideas and information with medical staff, awareness of and action suitable for ethics issues, and increased interest in ethics issues”. Like this, the awareness of ethical practices has expanded from individuals to the relationship with patients/their families and sharing ideas with medical staff, and this has developed into self-development. The findings suggest the importance of an organizational culture that addresses ethics to improve practical ethics skills. The findings also suggest that it would be necessary for an organization to take long-term actions to addresses ethical issues in wards or hospitals.

Action Research, Transplant Nursing, Ethical Practice

Tanimizu, N. , Hayashi, Y. , Akazawa, C. , Shuda, A. , Hagiwara, K. and Imanishi, T. (2021) Changes in Nurses' Ethical Practices in Organ Transplant Nursing Using Action Research. Health, 13, 323-333. doi: 10.4236/health.2021.134026.