Nursing ethics defined as ethics that concerns with the activities in the field of nursing. This involves with the values and ethical principles governing nursing practice, conduct, and relationships. Ethics is an integral part of the nursing foundation. Nursing ethics provides the professional standards for nursing activities, which protect the nurses and the patients from legal and ethical issues. As mainly the nurses work focuses on patients and are related to health care so ethics in nursing practice is mandatory to ensure the safety of patients and their fellow healthcare providers. The main ethical topics included in nursing are:
- Protecting patients’ rights
- Informed consent for treatment
- Staffing patterns
- Advanced care planning
- Surrogate decision-making
The ethical principles that nurses must adhere to are the principles of justice, beneficence, no maleficence, accountability, fidelity, autonomy, and veracity.Bioethics is a subcategory of ethics. Bioethics addresses ethical concerns like which occur as the result of advancing science and technological advances. Some of the most common, current bioethical issues revolve around stem cells, cloning, and genetic engineering.
