Nursing Ethics - Answers •Necessitates applying moral beliefs and making logical, consistent
decisions
•Serves as an integral part of nursing practice
•Involves respect and advocacy for patients and families in all settings
ethics - Answers •Reflect what actions people should take in a specific situation based on their
own morals
•Are influenced by both personal life experiences and value systems
morals - Answers •Are ingrained in one's consciousness
•Provide people with established rules of conduct based on societal customs and habits
•Reflect what is right or wrong and good or bad
Moral Integrity - Answers •Refers to quality of character and involves acting consistently with
personal and professional values
•Is a positive attribute for nurses in leadership and management positions and is critical to
ethical decision making
-Is demonstrated when nurses:
•Are honest and trustworthy
•Consistently do the right thing
•Stand up for what is right despite the consequences, own your actions
•Have a sense of self-worth and clearly defined values that are congruent with their actions
You make the same decisions when faced w the same situations
Moral Obligation - Answers •A duty to provide care in a nondiscriminatory manner
, •A primary commitment to the recipient of care
•A nurse cannot abandon a patient once a nurse-patient relationship has been established.
-Nurses are morally obligated to care for patients when:
•The patient is at significant risk of harm, loss, or damage if the nurse does not assist.
•The nurse's intervention or care is directly relevant to preventing harm.
•The nurse's care will probably prevent harm, loss, or damage to the patient.
•The benefit the patient will gain outweighs any harm the nurse might incur and does not
present more than an acceptable risk to the nurse.
•Values clarification - Answers •The process of reflecting on and analyzing values to better
understand what is important
•Leads to self-awareness and self-reflection, necessary to develop and maintain a
nonjudgmental approach to care and to leadership and management
•Five core professional values critical to nursing are - Answers altruism, autonomy, human
dignity, integrity, social justice
altruism - Answers •showing concern for the welfare and well-being of others
autonomy - Answers •having the right to self-determination
human-diginity - Answers •respecting the inherent worth and uniqueness of individuals and
populations
integrity - Answers •acting in accordance with an appropriate code of ethics and accepted
standards of practice
social justice - Answers •acting in accordance with fair treatment regardless of economic status,
race, ethnicity, age, citizenship, disability, or sexual orientation
Utilitarianism - Answers •From the theory of consequentialism in which the moral rightness of
an action is determined by the consequences of that action