Nursing ethics and the Holocaust: pilot of an innovation in teaching

Abstract

ABSTRACT More nurses than doctors killed in the Holocaust but are little studied. In Nazi ‘euthanasia’ institutional patients, with others, were killed by nurses. A German film, Fog in August (2016), tells of a boy caught in Nazi ‘euthanasia’. We piloted the film to increase knowledge about nurses in Nazi ‘euthanasia’. In Australia, 21 participants (health professionals, community members) completed pre-and-post questionnaires testing levels of knowledge. Knowledge increased – median post-score (1.75) > pre-score (1.0), median of differences 0.5 (p = 0.001). This film effectively increased knowledge, and the study methods worked. We will develop a project to teach nurses about genocides.