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Explain how values, moral frameworks, and codes of ethics affect moral de-
Concepts for Lecture
1. Ethical and moral decisions require individuals to think and reason.
2. Values are enduring beliefs or attitudes about the worth of a person,
3. Moral development is the process of learning to tell the difference
between right and wrong and of learning what should and should not
be done. This process begins in childhood and continues throughout
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Explain how nurses use knowledge of values to make ethical decisions and to
assist clients in clarifying their values.
Concepts for Lecture
1. Nurses need to identify clients’ values as they influence and relate to
a particular health problem.
When clients hold unclear or conflicting values that are detri-
mental to their health, the nurse should use values clarification as an
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VALUES, ETHICS, AND ADVOCACY
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fy their top five essential values. Have the stu-
dents write a short paper on how these values
would affect moral decision making.
eological model, another using the deontolog-
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• Develop several moral or ethical dilemmas
related to clients. Have the students use the
steps in values clarification to assist the clients
to make an ethical decision.
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24 CHAPTER 5 / Values, Ethics, and Advocacy
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When presented with an ethical situation, identify the moral issues and prin-
ciples involved.
Concepts for Lecture
1. Moral issues are those that arouse conscience, are concerned with
2. Moral principles are statements about broad, general, philosophic
concepts that provide the foundation for moral rules, which are spe-
3.
The six major moral principles are autonomy, nonmaleficence, benefi-
cence, justice, fidelity, and veracity. Autonomy refers to the right to
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Discuss common ethical issues currently facing health care professionals.
Concepts for Lecture
1. Common ethical problems nurses encounter are issues in the care of
HIV/AIDS clients, abortions, organ transplantation, end–of–life deci-
sions, cost-containment issues (resource allocation), and manage-
The debate over abortion pits the principle of sanctity of life
Many moral problems surrounding end–of-life decisions can be
resolved if clients complete advance directives. Advance directives
guide caregivers as to the client’s wishes about treatment and pro-
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• Have the students bring a newspaper or maga-
zine article about ethical and moral dilemmas
to class. Divide the students into groups and
ask each group to determine which moral
principle would best apply as a basis for a so-
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•
Have the students bring newspaper or magazine
articles about controversial bioethical and moral
dilemmas to class for discussion.
• Have each student select an ethical problem
and write a paper about the controversy and
issues surrounding the problem.
• Ask a member of the institution’s ethics com-
mittee, preferably a nurse representative, to
discuss the types of issues brought to the
lution.
treatments are life-sustaining. Individuals need help to fully under-
stand treatments and need to know that decisions can be changed, if
desired. A nurse is morally obligated to withhold food and fluids if
administering is more harmful than withholding and must honor the
wishes of a competent and informed client’s refusal of food and flu-
cerned that staff is not adequate to give the level of care they value.
Some states have enacted a nurse–to-client ratio. With a shortage of
nursing, an ethical dilemma arises when, in order to provide ade-
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Discuss the advocacy role of the nurse.
Concepts for Lecture
1. An advocate is one who expresses and defends the cause of another.
2. The overall goal of the client advocate is to protect clients’ rights by
informing clients about their rights, providing them with information
to make informed decisions, supporting clients in their decisions,
3. Values basic to client advocacy include the belief that the client is a
holistic, autonomous being who has the right to make choices and
4. In other societies, health care decisions may be made by the head of
the family or another member of the community. Therefore, the nurse
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Invite a nurse active in the political arena to
discuss the role of professional and public advo-
cate.
• Present the students with a situation in which
• Have the students describe a situation in
which they thought the nurse could or should
5.
To act as professional and public advocates, nurses need an understand-