Chapter 22-Ethics and Values

Accountability

State of being answerable for one's actions�a nurse answers to himself or herself, the patient, the profession, the employing institution such as a hospital, and society for the effectiveness of nursing care performed.

Advocacy

Process whereby a nurse objectively provides patients with the information they need to make decisions and supports the patients in whatever decisions they make.

Beneficence

Doing good or actively promoting doing good; one of the four principles of the ethical theory of deontology.

Casuistry

Turns away from conventional principles of ethics as a way to determine best actions and focuses instead on an "intimate understanding of particular situations.

Code of Ethics

Formal statement that delineates a profession's guidelines for ethical behavior. A code of ethics sets standards or expectations for the professional to achieve.

Confidentiality

Act of keeping information private or secret; in health care the nurse only shares information about a patient with other nurses or health care providers who need to know private information about a patient to provide care for him or her; information can

Consequentialism

Main emphasis is on the outcome or consequence of action.

Deontology

Traditional theory of ethics that proposes to define actions as right or wrong based on the characteristics of fidelity to promises, truthfulness, and justice. The conventional use of ethical terms such as justice, autonomy, beneficence, and nonmaleficenc

Ethics

Principles or standards that govern proper conduct.

Ethics of Care

Delivery of health care based on ethical principles and standards of care.

Feminist Ethics

Ethical approach that focuses on the nature of relationships to guide participants in making difficult decisions, especially relationships in which power is unequal or in which a point of view has become ignored or invisible.

Fidelity

Agreement to keep a promise.

Justice

Ethical standard of fairness.

Nonmaleficence

Fundamental ethical agreement to do no harm. Closely related to the ethical standard of beneficence.

Responsibility

Carrying out duties associated with a particular role.

Teleology

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Utilitarianism

Ethic that proposes that the value of something is determined by its usefulness. The greatest good for the greatest number of people constitutes the guiding principle for action in a utilitarian model of ethics.

Value

Personal belief about the worth of a given idea or behavior.

Autonomy

Ability or tendency to function independently.