A phenomenologic study of the interface of caring and technology in intermediate care: toward a reflexive ethics for clinical practice.

A phenomenologic research study of nurse caring was conducted in an intermediate care unit of a hospital. Three narratives from the data are presented as examples to illuminate the meaning of the experience of caring for technologically dependent patients. Results revealed that vulnerability, suffering, and the ethical situations of moral blurring and moral blindness were the dynamics of caring for these patients. Identification of these phenomena cells for a new reflexive ethics in health care to increase understanding of how deep values in relation to the status of vulnerable human beings, and how moral interactions among patients, families, and caregivers, shape ethical decisions.