Ethical Reasoning Observed: a longitudinal study of nursing students

Abstract

All nursing courses in the UK include ethics in the curriculum, although there is considerable variation in the content of ethics courses and the teaching methods used to assist the acquisition of ethical reasoning.The effectiveness of ethics courses continues to be disputed, even when the perceptions and needs of students are taken into account in their design. This longitudinal study, carried out in the UK, but with implications for nurse education in other developed countries, explored the ethical understanding of nursing students and changes in their understanding and approaches to practice over their four years of training (1995-1999). The data collection tools were a questionnaire originally piloted prior to the 1995 study, from which the present study developed, and five vignettes describing ethical dilemmas in health care also piloted in 1995. Students' thinking progressed as they became more mature as individuals and professionals, although this progress was not necessarily in the direction of greater certainty. Suggestions are made to help nurse educators to maximize the effectiveness of ethics courses in transmitting the skills of ethical reasoning.

Relationship of Ethical Knowledge to Action in Senior Baccalaureate Nursing Students

“…Other nursing programs embed the content throughout all courses in the curriculum, and some include instruction on ethical principles only if situations are encountered during a clinical practicum. Whether or not nursing students are adequately prepared to make ethical decisions at the time of graduation is not clear (Dierckx de Casterlé, Grypodonck, Vuylsteke-Wauters, & Janssen, 1997; Krawczyk, 1997;Nolan & Markert, 2002). The ability to make decisions that are ethically based is often learned through practice; consequently, students who were fortunate to encounter ethical situations through their clinical practicum would have an advantage over students who did not.…”

“…Callister, Luthy, Thompson, and Memmott (2009) described and analyzed the ethical reasoning ability of 70 baccalaureate nursing students and identified that the students showed an understanding of ethical reasoning and behavior, but not mastery of these skills. Nolan and Markert (2002) indicated that nursing students should be taught that there will be occasions where their personal code of ethics will conflict with practice. Nursing students need opportunities that facilitate development in moral and ethical reasoning.…”

Crucial ethical problem for Japanese nursing students at clinical settings

“…[4] In addition to ethical problems involving health care professionals, issues relating to patient quality of life/death and dying, disagreement with a patient's behavior, and persons with HIV and other contagious diseases were also seen. [1,2,6] As these findings indicate, most of the ethical problems encountered by nursing students in clinical practice were related to unprofessional conduct disclosing and explaining information to patients, or, when described in the context of so-called principles of ethics, matters pertaining to patient autonomy, non-maleficence, and veracity.…”

Ethical problems in the clinical setting from the perspective of nursing students

“…Etik ikilem tamamen tatmin edici bir alternatifin bulunmadığı, ne yapılırsa yapılsın, bazı ilke ve kurallar arasında çelişmenin olduğu durumlardır (13). Literatür incelendiğinde öğrencilerin klinik öğretimde yaşadıkları etik sorunların; yarar sağlama, zarar vermeme, gizlilik, mahremiyet, otonomi, gibi etik ilke ihlallerine temellendiği ve etik değerlerden en sık insan onurunun zedelendiği görülmektedir (3,7,9,11,14,15).…”