Fundamentals of Nursing and Midwifery 2e

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C H A P T E R

Values, ethics and advocacy

LEARNING OUTCOMES

After completing the chapter, the learner should be able to accomplish the following: 1. List common modes of value transmission 2. Describe steps in the valuing process 3. Use values clarification strategies in clinical practice 4. Compare and contrast the principle-based and care-based approaches to bioethics 5. Describe nursing and midwifery practice that is consistent with the code of ethics 6. Recognise ethical issues as they arise in practice 7. Use an ethical framework and decision-making process to resolve ethical problems 8. Identify four functions of institutional ethics committees 9. Describe three typical concerns of the nurse/midwife advocate.

KEY TERMS

advocacy applied ethics autonomy beneficence bioethics care-based approach clinical ethics

code of ethics ethical/moral agency ethical dilemma ethical distress ethical theory ethics feminist-based approach

fidelity justice meta-ethics morals moral distress non-maleficence normative ethics

nursing ethics paternalism principle-based approach values value system values clarification

T HIS CHAPTER EXPLORES the influence of values on human behaviour and the ethical dimensions of nursing and midwifery practice. The unique nature of nursing and midwifery places them at an individual’s bedside as well as in groups of professionals where critical

decisions are made about the best way to treat injury and illness and to solve healthcare problems. In the framework developed by McCormack and McCance (2010), one of the four constructs of person-centred care relates to prerequi- sites , or the attributes that nurses and midwives bring to the

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