Aim: To assess ethical issues in everyday clinical practice among physicians and nurses of the University Hospital Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia. Subjects and methods: We surveyed the entire population of internal medicine, oncology and intensive care specialists and associated nurses employed at the University Hospital Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia (n = 532). An anonymous questionnaire was used to explore the type and frequency of ethical dilemmas, rank of their difficulty, access to and use of ethics support services, training in ethics and confidence about knowledge in ethics. Physicians (n = 113, 55% of them female) ranged in age from 27 to 61 years, and nurses (n = 251, 95% female), from 20 to 52. Results: The most frequent ethical dilemmas concerned uncertain or impaired decision-making capacity (66% of physicians, 47% of nurses, p = 0.008), limitation of treatment at the end of life (60% of physicians, 31% of nurses, p<0.001) and disagreements among family members (47% of physicians, 31% of nurses, p = 0.025). The most difficult dilemmas concerned euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (49% of physicians, 52% of nurses) and limitation of treatment at the end of life (14% of physicians, 18% of nurses). Only a minority reported ever using any kind of ethics support services (12% of physicians, 3% of nurses, p = 0.001) or being very confident about knowledge in ethics (5% of physicians, 6% of nurses). Conclusions: Similar ethical difficulties are present in the clinical practice of both physicians and nurses, with important differences in access and use of ethics support services. A need for systematic ethics educational activities was identified. Inclusion of individual ethics consultants in Croatian healthcare ethics support services is strongly advised.

The aim of this study was to assess nurses’ and physicians’ ethical dilemmas in clinical practice. Nurses and physicians of the Clinical Hospital Centre Rijeka were surveyed (N = 364). A questionnaire was used to identify recent ethical dilemma, primary ethical issue in the situation, satisfaction with the resolution, perceived usefulness of help, and usage of clinical ethics consultations in practice. Recent ethical dilemmas include professional conduct for nurses (8%), and near-the-end-of-life decisions for physicians (27%). The main ethical issue is limiting life-sustaining therapy (nurses 15%, physicians 24%) and euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (nurses 16%, physicians 9%). The types of help available are similar for nurses and physicians: obtaining complete information about the patient (37% vs. 50%) and clarifying ethical issues (31% vs. 39%). Nurses and physicians experience similar ethical dilemmas in clinical practice. The usage of clinical ethics consultations is low. It is recommended that the individual and team consultations should be introduced in Croatian clinical ethics consultations services.