Given their unique role in healthcare, nurses have special ethical responsibilities. The nature of our modern healthcare system often places conflicting demands upon nurses. This pressure contributes to the stress and burn out experienced by so many registered nurses. When the nurse’s ethical responsibilities to her/his patient are being constrained by larger systemic pressures, what is the right thing for the nurse to do?

This course explores the fundamental principles of nursing ethics and encourages reflection on and discussion about personal and professional values within nursing practice contexts. Participants will analyze some of the most common and difficult ethical dilemmas faced by nurses today due to financially-motivated administrative decisions. These dilemmas will be analyzed with consideration to ethical reasoning and decision-making. Means of overcoming barriers to ethical nursing practice will be explored both as individual solutions and social responses such as alternative healthcare systems like a single-payer system.