The Ethics of Care Rationing Within the Current Socioeconomic Constraints

Abstract

The recent economic and financial crisis has weighed heavily on fiscal positions of many countries in the European Union and especially Greece. These pressures as well as a clear need to contain public spending on health care will make nursing a constant target for cost reduction. Nursing practice involves a variety of tasks and when resources are limited, nurses are forced to ration their attention across patients, minimize or omit certain duties, thereby increasing the risk of adverse patient outcomes. Lack of resources and time onstraints have been reported as causes of rationing and poor patient outcomes including patient falls, osocomial infections, pressure ulcers, high mortality rates and low patient satisfaction levels. Similarly nurses’ outcomes of rationing are reported, such as low job and occupational satisfaction and intention to leave.