Ethics

The Nursing Code of Ethics and Ethical Dilemmas

Here are the principles of Ethical decision making!  

Autonomy: The right to self-determination. An ethical principle that involves the nurse’s willingness to respect patients’ rights to make decisions about and for themselves, even if the nurse does not agree with the patients’ decisions.
Beneficence: The duty to do good; prevent harm and remove harm.
Care: A broad concept that “in its simplest form, can be described as an attitude or orientation that leads to the beneficent attending, through acts or omissions, of one person towards another” (Cortis & Dendrick, 2003, p.78).
Ethics: The study of values in human conduct or the study of right conduct. Ethics offers a critical, rational, defensible, systematic and intellectual approach to determining what is right or best in a difficult situation.
Justice: The equitable distribution of risks and benefits. Equals ought to be treated equally and unequals may be treated unequally.
Moral: The personal beliefs and cultural values that are the basis for human conduct.
Nonmaleficence: The obligation not to inflict harm intentionally (Beauchamp & Childress, 2001).
Values: The set of personal beliefs and attitudes that we hold in high regard.

Beauchamp, T. L. & Childress, J. F. (2001). Principles of biomedical ethics (5th Ed). New York: Oxford University Press.

Cortis, J.D. & Kendrick, K. (2003). Nursing ethics, caring and culture. Nursing Ethics, 10, 77-88.