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Background <p>Providing ethical care in nursing is of highly important, especially in intensive care units (ICUs). One of the primary challenges in these departments, due to the acute and complex care of patients, is the dilemma of whether to reveal the truth or conceal it. This study aimed to examine nurses’ lived experiences of truth-telling to patients hospitalized in ICUs.</p> Methods <p>An exploratory-descriptive qualitative design was used. In this qualitative study, in-depth, semi structured interviews were conducted with 10 nurses working in ICUs of five educational hospitals. The data were analyzed via conventional content analysis with the five steps of Graneheim and Lundman’s technique.</p> Results <p>Data analysis revealed four main categories. The main theme of this study was “expedient truth-telling” and the categories included Mental and psychological conditions, Preparedness, Level of understanding, and Culture.</p> Conclusion <p>Although nurses consider truth-telling as patients’ right, depending on patients’ different situation, they prefer to consider the patients’ expedience when they are admitted to the ICU basis on the principles of beneficence and non-maleficence. This expediency helps ensure that patients’ hope for recovery is not diminished.</p>

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Expedient truth-telling in the ICU: a qualitative content analysis

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年4月17日

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  • Rozita Cheraghi,
  • Hadi Hassankhani,
  • Hossein Ebrahimi,
  • Mozhgan Behshid,
  • Shahla Shahbazi,
  • Mehran Seif-Farshad

摘要

Background

Providing ethical care in nursing is of highly important, especially in intensive care units (ICUs). One of the primary challenges in these departments, due to the acute and complex care of patients, is the dilemma of whether to reveal the truth or conceal it. This study aimed to examine nurses’ lived experiences of truth-telling to patients hospitalized in ICUs.

Methods

An exploratory-descriptive qualitative design was used. In this qualitative study, in-depth, semi structured interviews were conducted with 10 nurses working in ICUs of five educational hospitals. The data were analyzed via conventional content analysis with the five steps of Graneheim and Lundman’s technique.

Results

Data analysis revealed four main categories. The main theme of this study was “expedient truth-telling” and the categories included Mental and psychological conditions, Preparedness, Level of understanding, and Culture.

Conclusion

Although nurses consider truth-telling as patients’ right, depending on patients’ different situation, they prefer to consider the patients’ expedience when they are admitted to the ICU basis on the principles of beneficence and non-maleficence. This expediency helps ensure that patients’ hope for recovery is not diminished.