Introduction: The number of older people is increasing, leading to a growing interest in homes for elderly, where nurses and other healthcare professionals deal with residents at the end of life on a daily basis. The context of end-of-life care raises various ethical issues. Purpose: The aim of this thesis is to explore the ethical issues faced by healthcare professionals when caring for older people at the end of life in nursing homes and to examine how they approach and experience these ethical issues. Methods: The descriptive method was used, and a systematic review of foreign and domestic scientific literature was conducted. Keywords such as ethical issues, nursing home, dying, and palliative care were searched in databases such as Medline, PubMed, DiKUL, Cobiss, Google Scholar and other relevant websites. Results: Common ethical issues related to end-of-life care include refusal of food and fluids, communication problems between family members of nursing home residents and nursing home staff, understaffing and inadequate knowledge of end-of-life care, limited access to a personal physician, and subsequent ethical issues related to palliative care. These issues are distressing, particularly if they remain unresolved or if moral obligations to patients are not met. This leads to moral stress, which can result in emotional exhaustion and absence from work. Discussion and conclusion: It is crucial to promote discussion and educate healthcare professionals in all disciplines about these ethical issues. expected trends indicate an increasing number of deaths and an increased demand for end-of-life care in nursing homes.
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