TY - JOUR
T1 - The Secret of Quality Is Love
T2 - A Qualitative Study Exploring Physician and Nurse Perspectives on What It Means to Love Their Patients
AU - Sams, Richard W.
AU - Mann, Paul C.
AU - Johnson, J. Aaron
AU - Huels, Amanda
AU - Lipscomb, Tyler
AU - McLean, Patrick
AU - Reddy, Darsani
AU - Rountree, Chandler
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Little research systematically explores healthcare professionals' understanding of what it means to love their patients. The authors hypothesized that nurses and physicians would describe a language of love relevant to health care. Researchers conducted structured interviews with 29 physicians and 32 nurses at an academic medical center through a combination of purposive, convenience, and snowball sampling. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using grounded theory, identifying major themes from qualitative data. Most nurses and physicians declared they should love their patients. Characteristics of loving physicians and nurses included caring, clinical excellence, advocating, meeting needs, compassion, sacrifice, and tough love. Moral imperatives included the duty to act on behalf of the patient's best interest, respect the patient's wishes, treat patients as you would want your family treated, and recognize limits of life. Many physicians and nurses commented that loving patients could transform health care. Physicians and nurses described characteristics and imperatives of love that may serve as an ethical standard for healthcare professionals.
AB - Little research systematically explores healthcare professionals' understanding of what it means to love their patients. The authors hypothesized that nurses and physicians would describe a language of love relevant to health care. Researchers conducted structured interviews with 29 physicians and 32 nurses at an academic medical center through a combination of purposive, convenience, and snowball sampling. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using grounded theory, identifying major themes from qualitative data. Most nurses and physicians declared they should love their patients. Characteristics of loving physicians and nurses included caring, clinical excellence, advocating, meeting needs, compassion, sacrifice, and tough love. Moral imperatives included the duty to act on behalf of the patient's best interest, respect the patient's wishes, treat patients as you would want your family treated, and recognize limits of life. Many physicians and nurses commented that loving patients could transform health care. Physicians and nurses described characteristics and imperatives of love that may serve as an ethical standard for healthcare professionals.
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U2 - 10.1353/nib.2021.0041
DO - 10.1353/nib.2021.0041
M3 - Article
C2 - 34334485
AN - SCOPUS:85113233804
VL - 11
SP - 107
EP - 120
JO - Narrative inquiry in bioethics
JF - Narrative inquiry in bioethics
SN - 2157-1732
IS - 1
ER -