Key Concepts and Issues in Nursing Ethics

by P. Anne Scott (Editor)

Overview

Short case studies, based on real stories from the health care arena, ensure that each chapter of this book is rooted in descriptions of nursing practise that are grounded, salient narratives of nursing care. The reader is assisted to explore the ethical dimension of nursing practice: what it is and how it can be portrayed, discussed, and analysed within a variety of practice and theoretical contexts. One of the unique contributions of this book is to consider nursing not only in the context of the individual nurse – patient relationship but also as a social good that is of necessity limited, due to the ultimate limits on the nursing and health care resource. This book will help the reader consider what good nursing looks like, both within the context of limitations on resources and under conditions of scarcity.

Indeed, any discussion of ethical issues in nursing should be well grounded in a conceptualisation of nursing that nursing students and practising nursing can recognise, accept and engage with. Nursing, like medicine, social work and teaching has a clear moral aim – to do good. In the case of nursing to do good for the patient. However it is vital that in the pressurised, constrained health service of the 21st century, we help nurses explore what this might mean for nursing practice and what can reasonably be expected of the individual nurse in terms of good nursing care.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783319492506
Publisher:	Springer-Verlag New York, LLC
Publication date:	03/08/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	860 KB

About the Author

Prof P Anne Scott has been Dean of the Faculty of Education, Health and Community Liverpool John Moores University since August 2014. Immediately prior to this she was Professor of Nursing and Deputy President and Registrar, Dublin City University (DCU). Anne is also a former Head of the School of Nursing and Human Sciences, DCU (September 2000 to end of January 2006). Her research interests include the ethics domain of health care practice, the philosophy and ethics of health care, judgement and decision-making in clinical practice and health services research-focusing on the health work force.Prof. Scott is an experienced PhD supervisor and examiner. She made some recent external examining appointments with Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (March 2015), University of Stirling (April 2014), University of York (2009). She also received many research grants and wrote many articles on an international scale.Anne has been a member of a number ofResearch Funding Agencies and Health service agencies in Ireland – Board member of the Health Research Board, Founding member of the Irish Council for Bioethics, Board member of the Health Service Executive (Ireland). Currently, Anne is a member of the Board of Governors of the Royal Liverpool and Broad Greed Hospitals NHS Trust.

Table of Contents

1. Nursing and the Ethical Dimension of Practice.- 2. A Duty-Based Approach for Nursing Ethics&Practice.- 3. Utilitarianism as an Approach to Ethical Decision Making in Health Care.- 4. Virtue Ethics and Nursing Practice.- 5. Care Ethics and Nursing Practice.- 6. The Concept of Person.- 7. Patient Autonomy in Nursing and Healthcare Contexts.- 8. The Nurse as Patient Advocate?.- 9. Ethical Issues at the Beginning of Life.- 10. Ethical Issues at the End of Life.- 11. Ethical Issues in Mental Health Nursing.- 12. Resource Allocation and Rationing in Nursing Care.- 13. Values-based Nursing and Fitness to Practice Issues.- 14. Ethical Principles in Healthcare Research.-  15. Clinical and Organisational Ethics: Implications for Healthcare Practice. 

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Brandy M Fox, MSHCE (Saint Louis University)
Description: This collection of essays reviews philosophical and theoretical ethics issues in the field of nursing.
Purpose: This purpose is to explain and ground pragmatically various ethical issues in nursing in order to make theoretical ethical concepts more digestible for practicing nurses. There are few nursing ethics books that successfully link theory and practice so closely. The authors have done an excellent job achieving this objective.
Audience: Although written primarily for nursing students, the book can be used by nursing professionals at all levels. The editor is a philosopher and a nurse with several years of experience in both fields.
Features: The 15 chapters are divided into two main sections. The first, theoretical concepts in nursing (chapters 1-7), covers the major philosophical schools of thought that inform nursing practice (i.e. deontology, care ethics, etc.). These chapters may be challenging to some students, as their primary emphasis is philosophy, with nursing as a secondary emphasis. The second section (chapters 8-15) addresses specific clinical contexts (i.e., psychiatric care, end of life care, etc.) and demonstrates concepts described in the theoretical chapters. The book has minimal illustrations (one chapter contains two figures), but each chapter ends with a helpful box summarizing key learning points.
Assessment: This book explains the philosophical roots of nursing ethics in more depth than a typical nursing book. It is an excellent one-stop resource for nurses who want to see philosophy in action.

Doody's Review Service

This collection of essays reviews philosophical and theoretical ethics issues in the field of nursing. … Although written primarily for nursing students, the book can be used by nursing professionals at all levels. … This book explains the philosophical roots of nursing ethics in more depth than a typical nursing book. It is an excellent one-stop resource for nurses who want to see philosophy in action.” (Brandy M. Fox, Doody’s Book Reviews, June, 2017)

From the Publisher