Nursing ethics is the discipline of evaluating the merits, risks, and social concerns of activities in the field of nursing. There are many defined Codes of Ethics for nurses.

Nursing ethics shares many principles with other branches of health care ethics, such as beneficence and non-maleficence, but also has a number of distinctions.

Distinctive nature

Although historically much of nursing ethics has been derived from medical ethics, there are some factors that differentiate it from this. The key difference is that paternalism, which is often a key feature in theories of medical ethics, is generally not compatible with nursing ethics. This is because nursing theory seeks a collaborative relationship with the person in their care. It therefore emphasises autonomy of the person being nursed over paternalistic practice where the health professional seeks to do what they believe to be in the person's or society's best interests. Codes of conduct for nurses tend to be written in the ethical framework of deontology and are therefore based on the rights of the patient and the duties of the nurse rather than on utilitarian concerns of the consequences justifying the action.

References

• Hunt, G (ed) Ethical Issues in Nursing. Routledge, London, 1994.
• Journal: Nursing Ethics: An International Journal for Healthcare Professionals. Arnold, London.

External links

• International Centre for Nursing Ethics, University of Surrey, UK

Ethics | Nursing

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