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Registered nurses' perspectives on medically safe practices and sound ethical standards in aesthetic nursing: An interview study
Author(s) -
Holmberg Christopher,
Carlström Eric,
Collier Helena
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of clinical nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.94
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1365-2702
pISSN - 0962-1067
DOI - 10.1111/jocn.15158
Subject(s) - checklist , nursing , obligation , qualitative research , health care , medicine , ethical code , psychology , engineering ethics , sociology , engineering , political science , law , economics , cognitive psychology , economic growth , social science
Aims and objectives To explore the views of registered nurses experienced in aesthetic nursing regarding medically safe practices and sound ethical standards. Background Aesthetic nursing is an emerging field of modern‐day healthcare encompassed within aesthetic medicine. There is a distinct lack of research regarding how registered nurses who specialise in this area of care view medically safe practices and sound ethical standards. This is important to explore, because, in the absence of mandatory regulations within the sector, and it is the aesthetic nurse's own obligation to uphold professional, medical and ethical standards. Design Qualitative study. Methods Individual semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 13 registered nurses who had worked in aesthetic nursing for at least two years. The interview transcripts were categorised using qualitative content analysis. The COREQ checklist was used to report the study. Results A main theme was generated during the analysis: Considering my professional, the clinic's and the patient's needs. The participants described that they considered medical and ethical aspects pertinent to their professional roles as registered nurses but also undertook practices in addition to what they already did as registered nurses, such as creating professional networks using social media. They also described the importance of establishing local medical and ethical guidelines for their clinics, and that they considered patients’ individual needs such as using individual information relating to their patients’ previous experiences. Conclusions The study points to the positive tendencies of registered nurses in aesthetics to develop their own professional networks and create local medical and ethical guidelines until more robust mandatory regulations are in place. Relevance to clinical practice Considering that aesthetic nursing is a young industry, registered nurses are in an excellent position to utilise their professional networks and work with professional bodies to develop standards of professional nursing practice and education for this field.