The European Journal for Nursing History and Ethics; Medizinische Fakultät Heidelberg (Web)

Proposals by: 31.05.2023

Economic conditions have shaped the working conditions of nurses in different ways throughout history. Since the 1960s, there have been increasing complaints about the economization of health care and the social and human costs to nurses on the one hand and patients on the other. The thematic issue aims to approach the meaning of economics for nursing in a broader sense, namely in terms of economies. The focus is not only on economic constraints, but also on the potentials of economic thinking in nursing: What changes when nurses are seen as a valuable resource? What influence does the remuneration of nursing have? Furthermore, non-material economies of labor, economies of care could come into view.

Possible historical topics are:
– Negotiations around the valuation of nursing care work
– Actors of a revaluation of work in nursing care, their argumentations and strategies
– Relationship between material and immaterial values
– Organization of work in care: e.g. negotiations about skilled worker quotas, rationalization of nursing work, outsourcing
– The care responsibility of the employers
– Dealing of nurses with their work capacity and forms of self-care

Possible ethical topics are:
– Influence of economization processes and the ethical implications of their use
– Conflicts of norms and values as a result of economization processes
– Moral distress and ‚moral injury‘. Read more and source … (Web)