This handbook provides tools for nurse educators, ethics educators,
practicing nurses and allied health professionals for developing
confidence and skill in ethical decision making in interdisciplinary
settings such as acute and chronic care hospitals and clinics. It is
useful for all healthcare personnel who face ethical issues in the
course of their work and who work with nurses to resolve these issues.
While the content is based on a US context, the concerns of nurses
internationally are discussed and emphasized. Nurses working in acute
and chronic care settings face many obstacles to providing good care and
are often the first line of defense related to patient safety and
meeting the needs of patients and their families. Some of the obstacles
to optimal patient care are institutional, some sociocultural, and
others the result of inadequate communication. Evidence points to the
idea that while nurses do have the knowledge and skills to address
practice problems of various sorts, they may not be confident in their
skills of ethical decision making and advocacy actions. This is a
resource to develop moral agency on behalf of individuals and to address
broader barriers to good care raised at the local, community, or social
levels.