Ethics

To review the literature on moral distress experienced by nursing and medical professionals within neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) and paediatric intensive care units (PICUs).

To determine the frequency with which nurses and residents have experienced ethical confrontations and what factors are associated with increased frequency.

To determine the adequacy of records of parental counseling in mothers with threatened preterm delivery before 27 weeks gestation, whether interventions performed at birth were consistent with recorded antenatal decisions and whether extent of resuscitation affected the occurrence of serious short-term morbidity.