[Implementing the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) in postgraduate education in nursing science-a pilot project to assess ethical competences in nursing practice and research].

Background: Teaching ethical competencies is an essential component of professional and postgraduate curricula. Developing practical-ethical problem-solving competencies as well as appraising program-specific studies and related research ethics are topics typically addressed. However, assessment of these ethical competencies poses a challenge.

Nurses' decision-making in ethically relevant clinical situations using the example of breathlessness: study protocol of a reflexive grounded theory integrating Goffman's framework analysis.

Introduction: Decision-making (DM) in healthcare can be understood as an interactive process addressing decision makers' reasoning as well as their visible behaviour after the decision is made. Other key elements of DM are ethical aspects and the role as well as the treatment options of the examined professions. Nurses' DM to choose interventions in situations of severe breathlessness is such interactions.

Medical Students' Development of Ethical Judgment - Exploring the Learners' Perspectives using a mixed methods approach.

Contemporary healthcare requires physicians to have well developed ethical judgment skills in addition to excellent clinical skills. However, no consensus has been reached on how to best teach ethical judgment skills during medical training. Previous studies revealed inconclusive results and applied varying theoretical frameworks.

Evaluating an evidence-based curriculum in undergraduate palliative care education: piloting a phase II exploratory trial for a complex intervention.

Background: By 2013 Palliative Care will become a mandatory examination subject in the medical curriculum in Germany. There is a pressing need for effective and well-designed curricula and assessment methods. Debates are on going as how Undergraduate Palliative Care Education (UPCE) should be taught and how knowledge and skills should be assessed.

[Nurses end-of-life decision making. Professional nurses about the application of complementary care for patients with breathlessness].

Aim of this study was to explore the nursing professionals' experiences and handling of decisions to provide complementary care for patients with breathlessness at the end of life. Therefore, it presents one of the first studies in the German speaking area addressing genuine nursing decisions belonging to their responsibility. Based on Grounded Theory Methodology the data were collected and analysed synchronously.

Palliative care for the elderly--developing a curriculum for nursing and medical students.

Background: Delivering palliative care to elderly, dying patients is a present and future challenge. In Germany, this has been underlined by a 2009 legislation implementing palliative care as compulsory in the medical curriculum. While the number of elderly patients is increasing in many western countries multimorbidity, dementia and frailty complicate care.

[Cura sui--selfcare and its relationship to nursing].

Self care is an answer to the response of finiteness, which is given through the fact of the human body. The article demonstrates in reference to the Selfcaredeficit-Theory (Orem, 2006) how self care in everyday life, ancient roman called it cura sui, is related to nursing practice, specially to acutecare. Self care turns out as an category of ambivalence between ethics and power.

[Dealing with sensitive interview topics--insights into the research project "Everyday life of people with urinary incontinence"].

This article has been written as part of a research project investigating the experiences of people with urinary incontinence. In this article a systematic literature analysis combined with excerpts from the study was used to describe and reflect on the best way to conduct interviews on sensitive topics. Ethical aspects are emphasised.

[Relevance and modification of autonomy and care at the end of life. Results of a survey by means of a vignette-study].

For several years the public and the associations of nurses and physicians have discussed ways and possibilities for a good and professional end-of-life attendance of patients. In this connection a descriptive vignette-study (n = 152) investigates the relevancy of nurses' and physicians' capability to ensure the patient's autonomy (expressed by a living will) and care for the patient. In their vignette-stories' assessments and answers to additional questions nurses and physicians judge that both values, autonomy and care, are essential.

[Quality criteria that are important to residents of elders' homes and their relatives--a literature analysis].

This literature analysis attempts to identify quality criteria which are important for residents of nursing homes and their relatives. To this end, 13 research articles published in international scientific journals were analysed. For the residents themselves, the ability to manage their daily lives autonomously as well as their ability to structure social contacts and relationships appears to be of special importance.