Nursing Ethics
- Megan-Jane Johnstone - Deakin University, Australia
SAGE Library of Nursing
By its very nature, nursing ethics is a subject that the profession is required to constantly grapple with. The history of writing on this topic offers a fascinating insight into how nursing as a profession has developed over time and reacted to the ethical issues and questions raised around the role of nurses and their interactions with patients.
Nursing ethics has not always enjoyed the status that it has today. Its development, legitimation and recognition as a distinctive field of inquiry have been an arduous project and one which has not always been well documented. These three volumes will redress this oversight via the systematic identification and inclusion of foundational and leading works on nursing ethics which have influenced the international development of nursing ethics as a discourse and practice.
The collection is categorised and sorted thematically into three volumes to enable clear navigation and understanding of the material. An introduction to each volume written by the editor frames the set, providing guidance and context.
Volume 1: Developing theoretical foundations for nursing ethics
Volume 2: Nursing ethics pedagogy and praxis
Volume 3: Politics and future directions of nursing ethics
"The International Council of Nurses (ICN) is delighted to see the development of this comprehensive source that will serve as an important resource for ethicists, researchers and nurses in all fields. The first of its kind to bring together the foundational ethical articles of the nursing profession, this collection includes leading works on nursing ethics which have had a profound influence on the international development of nursing ethics. An essential component of this work is the ICN Code of Ethics for Nurses, a guide for action, based on social values and needs, which serves as the standard for nurses worldwide."
"Nursing ethics provides guidance for nurses in their professional conduct and practice, particularly heightened in the clinical decision-making process and when being confronted with complex ethical quandaries that require prudence to deal with. The three volumes of this collection is a rich and comprehensive resource ranged from fundamental concepts to insights of ethical issues based on theoretical, cross-cultural, social justice and humanitarian perspectives for building ethical competence among nurses."
This publication is a major contribution to nursing ethics. The collection of articles emphasizes and will encourage ongoing comprehensive scholarly discussion in the field. It will be useful for nurses and other health professionals in all settings internationally.
Professor Johnstone has done a great service to the nursing profession world-wide through this major reference work, nurturing the fledgling academic discipline of Nursing Ethics into the light of day. The three volumes of readings, carefully selected from journals spanning the late 1800s to the present day, represent a scholar’s response to the skeptic’s question:”Is there a Nursing Ethics?” as distinct from Medical Ethics or Bioethics.
To those interested in studying/teaching nursing ethics in schools/colleges of nursing or enhancing their understanding of its importance as a discipline in its own right, this reference work will be an excellent resource. The selections explore the evolution of the nursing ethics discourse from early scholarly debates on “professional ethics, institutional constraints and nursing practice” to the present-day felt need for a “context-sensitive, culturally pluralistic framework”, and the challenge to a future focus beyond the nurse-patient relationship to “broader social justice and humanitarian concerns”. The work will be a valuable addition to the libraries of all nurses, academics and researchers, especially in regions where nursing is widely sought as a profession, but where the “Nursing Ethics” back-up is either missing or needs a less imperialistic model, more reflective of the indigenous culture.
