Starting with detailed cases based on real life, the fourth edition of Ethics in Nursing introduces the principles, concepts, and reasoning needed to think them through. Changes in this edition reflect important developments in nursing, ethical theory, and nursing ethics. Among the expanded set of 64 cases, 22 have been significantly revised and 15 are entirely new. Reasoning skills and philosophical understanding are explained and illustrated in cases involving: nurses and clients; inter-professional relationships; personal responsibility for institutional and public policy; and cost containment, justice, and rationing. New material on ethical theory includes an illustrated explanation and defense of moral pluralism, a section on the ethics of care, and an expanded discussion of reflective equilibrium as a method of ethical reasoning. New topics include pandemics and care for SARS patients, elderly patients contemplating suicide, and workplace violence. As with previous editions, both the nursing and philosophical content are self-contained, making the book accessible to readers with little or no background in either. Ethics in Nursing provides practicing and student nurses with a useful introduction to the identification and analysis of ethical issues that reflects both the special perspective of nursing and the value of systematic philosophical inquiry.
Cases 1. MORAL DILEMMAS AND ETHICAL INQUIRY 1. Moral dilemmas in nursing 2. Ethical codes: uses and limitations 3. The fundamental question of morality 4. Ethical inquiry 5. Ethical autonomy and institutional-hierarchical constraints2. UNAVOIDABLE TOPICS IN ETHICAL THEORY 1. Introduction 2. Basic ethical principles 3. Comprehensive ethical theories 4. Moral pluralism 5. A comprehensive ethics of care? 6. Ethical Reasoning7. Ethics, law, and religion3. NURSES AND CLIENTS 1. Introduction 2. Parentalism 3. Deception 4. Confidentiality 5. Personal risks and professional obligations 6. Conflicting claims4. RECURRING ETHICAL ISSUES IN INTERPROFESIONAL RELATIONSHIPS 1. Conflicts between nurse and other health care providers 2. Nurse autonomy 3. Collaboration 4. Integrity-preserving compromise 5. Conscientious refusal 6. Determining responsibility5. ETHICAL DILEMMAS AMONG NURSES 1. Tensions between nurses 2. Respect for persons 3. Professional obligations 4. Administrative dilemmas6. PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR INSTITUTIONAL AND PUBLIC POLICY 1. The scope of individual responsibility 2. Institutional policies and strikes 3. Institutional ethics committees 4. Blowing the whistle 5. Public policy: advance directives 6. Public Policy: workplace violence 7. Putting it all together7. COST CONTAINMENT, JUSTICE, AND RATIONING 1. Introduction 2. Cost containment and the claims of justice 3. Access to care 4. The concept of rationing 5. The Oregon proposal 6. Toward ethical rationing 7. Rationing and the importance of nursing care 8. The expanding scope of nursing ethicsAPPENDIX AInternational Council of Nurses Code of Ethics for Nurses, APPENDIX BAmerican Hospital Association: The Patient Care Partnership,APPENDIX CCases for Analysis, Suggestions for Further ReadingIndex
