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ethics
We must prepare now for future outbreaks. In 1918, nurses played a pivotal role in the Spanish flu pandemic that killed about 675,000 Americans and up to 50…
A 22-year-old woman with Asperger’s syndrome was seen on a frigid night in January 2018 for a fall-related head injury in the University of Maryland’s emergency department (ED).…
Others may not notice your courtesy, but they will notice your rudeness. (more…)
ANA joined leading nursing organizations at a State of the Science Symposium in Baltimore, Maryland from August 11 to 12, 2016. Forty-six nurse leaders met in a brainstorming…
Words about equality, friendship, and peace must be accompanied by action. (more…)
Guidance for navigating complex healthcare dilemmas. From the joyous celebrations at the sound of a newborn’s first cries to the solemn moment when a patient takes their last…
The ANA Center for Ethics and Human Rights is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2020. In its annual report for 2019, the center looks back at recent accomplishments.…
Center for Ethics and Human Rights recognized with prestigious Cornerstone Award The American Nurses Association (ANA) Center for Ethics and Human Rights has been honored with a Cornerstone…
Nurses offer insights on day-to-day ethical challenges. By Liz Stokes, JD, MA, RN At the June 2017 American Nurses Association (ANA) Membership Assembly in Washington DC, the Center…
Don’t let fear of reprisal stop you from reporting serious misconduct.
Often, patients and families express their gratitude for a special nurse’s outstanding care with spoken thanks or heartfelt commendations written to a nursing supervisor. Some even offer a…
Often, patients and families express their gratitude for a special nurse’s outstanding care with spoken thanks or heartfelt commendations written to a nursing supervisor. Some even offer a…
Moral distress occurs when one recognizes one’s moral responsibility in a situation; evaluates the various courses of action; and identifies, in accordance with one’s beliefs, the morally correct…
The answer may surprise you. WHAT can you do with a patient who won’t comply with any of your directives? You’ve provided education until you’re blue in the…
“Coercion is commonly said to invalidate consent, and that is always true if the source of the coercion is the physician.
Strengthening compassion may help you avoid burnout. Nurses, we’re told, are fundamentally compassionate people. In fact, nurse burnout could be defined as the loss of compassion. So, it…
I’m a new nurse employed in a hospital and would like to better understand a nurse’s responsibility around calling out sick. On the inpatient unit where I’ve worked…
One hospital’s Magnet workgroup used a Code of Ethics program to transform nursing practice.
To uphold workplace ethics, leaders must send the message that unethical behavior is never acceptable, no matter who’s demonstarting it.
Support patient’s values, beliefs, and goals. Takeaways: Medically administered nutrition and hydration (MANH) is indicated for individuals with chronic, complex, or serious illness for whom oral nutrition is…
According to the dictionary, the word integrity is a noun, and it means either adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty or the state…
Try a mock survey to ensure patient safety. PRESIDENT Calvin Coolidge once said, “The chief business of the American people is business,” but that was decades ago. Now,…
Plan ahead to ensure a successful and respectful experience. Takeaways: Embarking on a global health trip includes both logistical and ethical considerations. Preparation before a global health trip…
I’m an emergency department (ED) nurse and worry about becoming critically ill from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Despite years of pandemic anticipation and months of awareness that a…
Leah Curtin discusses the issue of quality care from an ethical perspective.
According to the Associated Press, a Brookdale Senior Residence facility* worker who identified herself as a nurse, refused to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to Lorraine Bayless, an 87-year-old…
Shirley Keck, age 61, was admitted to Kansas medical center. Because of understaffing of nurses in the hospital, Shirley’s nurse did not assess her often enough and did…
In recent years, most of the world’s people have celebrated their diversity: different races and languages, religions and cultures, and social mores. These differences are what make life…
Staffing is an issue at this 150-bed proprietary acute-care hospital. More than 100 of the hospital’s nurses, led by Mary Sims*, RN, signed a letter of concern about…
What happens when there is no room in the ICU for an ED patient?
Disasters, including global pandemics such as COVID-19, disrupt standard care and present ethical challenges. Planning helps us prepare for disasters, but it can’t eliminate the ethical dilemmas and…
Leah Curtin writes about finding your passion.
I am a medical-surgical nurse and admitted a patient to my unit who was arrested and injured during the commission of an alleged crime. The hospital allowed a…
During a recent clinical orientation with a group of about 170 nursing students, I projected a slide bearing a well-known photo of Florence Nightingale, and asked “Who knows…
Author Leah Curtin discusses the dangers of bottom-line thinking.
New standards are a call to action.
The author advocates for more respectful treatment of pregnant women who are incarcerated.
My patient is terminally ill. There may be a treatment, but it isn’t FDA approved. Do patients have a right to try investigational treatments, and what are the…
I am a registered nurse in Florida and have worked at a local hospital for over 10 years. Last fall, I was terminated because I was unable to…
I am a new assistant professor at a university, after 12 years in my previous academic position. I was excited to become part of the faculty but have…
Note from the editor: This new recurring department presents selected emails that ANA has received from nurses, along with responses from the ANA Center for Ethics and Human…
The current emphasis on best practices, guidelines, and checklists make cause healthcare professionals to turn off their judgment and go by the book – even when it’s the…
Leah Curtin discusses how negative effects of work on work/life balance and mandatory overtime affect patient care.
Leah Curtin discusses a restraint situation.
Quantum nursing demands that nurses honor each person’s humanity, promote independence and autonomy, and offer the opportunity for individuals to redefine for themselves who they are and how…
Leah Curtin discusses the dangers of bottom-line thinking.
I am a white frontline nurse in a medium-sized, full-service hospital. I am profoundly moved by the injustices I see occurring to ethnically and racially diverse people on…
You may face serious consequences if you use social media and other new technologies inappropriately.
Hospitals seeking to raise their HCAHPS score should focus on old-fashioned values—courtesy, kindness,respect, discipline, and commitment.
Divina Gunito* was the first in her family to graduate from college, and now it was her turn to help her loved ones. She decided to emigrate to the…
I recently saw a political ad featuring a nurse using her name and licensed credentials to support a particular candidate and his views on healthcare. I was instructed…
For many nurses today, the workplace may feel like uncharted territory. New technologies, bold advances in health care, and a growing urgency to collaborate and innovate are changing…
Enduring and evolving: Code of Ethics for Nurses
Foundational documents underscore shared responsibility for staffing
Reinforcing hospice’s valuable services after disturbing court case (more…)
Should patients receive neuromuscular blockers while mechanical ventilation is withdrawn?
According to the Huffington Post, “A recent survey by the World Economic Forum found that 86 percent of respondents believe we are suffering a global leadership crisis…. The world…
The impact of lying on individuals and society. While human history is rife with evidence of lying, never has lying been writ so large as it is today.…
Leah Curtin discusses the effects of ambiguity.
Caring for a medically futile patient can be a wrenching emotional experience. Learn how to cope with the complex medical, ethical, and legal issues and help patients and…
If President Trump really wants a healthcare plan that gives him a big win by covering all Americans, reducing insurance costs, and cutting the cost of healthcare, it…
Understanding the problems of living and dying. (more…)
I’m a school nurse at an elementary school where I’ve cared for a student with an ongoing illness who now has been enrolled in hospice. Part of the…
Better ethical preparedness I work in a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), and we’ve had four deaths in the last week. While I
recognize death isn’t avoidable in…
Electronic health records give healthcare providers faster, more efficient access to patient information. Experts hope to make the data less vulnerable to security breaches.
The Ethical Case to Consider: A mother reports that her youngest child is 18-years-old and she has two adult children who are 23- and 28-years-old. The adolescent and…
To: Ethics Advisory Board From: Volunteer RN Subject: Global health outreach With the recent earthquake in Haiti and the devastation that country has experienced, I feel compelled to…
Through shared governance, nurses are encouraged to participate in organizational decision-making to satisfy professional obligations. Incorporating ethical competence and professional development into everyday nursing practice is imperative to…
In August 2014, ANA participated as a strategic partner with 50 nursing leaders who came together in Baltimore for a summit meeting on Nursing Ethics for the 21st…
Access “A blueprint for 21st century nursing ethics: Report of the National Nursing Summit”
Nurses need more than solid technical skills to provide ethical care. A recent AMA Ethical Force Program report casts a spotlight on effective patient communication as an essential…
ANA’s new position statement on pain management offers guidance When a federal law permanently expanded medication-assisted treatment (MAT) prescribing authority to NPs and PAs in October 2018 (with…
By Leah Curtin, RN, ScD(h), FAAN “Sleep, gentle sleep that…knits up the raveled sleave of care.” —Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act II, Scene II As most nurses know,sleep disturbance is…
Leaders can advocate for changes to reduce ED boarding and crowding. IN SEPTEMBER 2012, in Update 2 to the Comprehensive Accreditation Manual for Hospitals, The Joint Commission published revisions…
As a new graduate RN, I was confronted with the case of allowing a natural death for a 6-month old baby girl who survived an anoxic brain injury…
Nurses have an ethical duty to address the web of relationships, expectations, and egocentrism that influences them.
I’ve been asked to care for patients who are participating in a research study. What are the ethical guidelines for this type of practice?
Author Leah Curtin analyzes the ethics of a case of confusion and restraints.
“It really doesn’t matter whether you are Muslim or Christian or Jew. In every religion, in every country, in every region at every time, there are some basic…
A tour of the detainee facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba leaves key questions unanswered.
The impact of the new healthcare bill can’t be hidden forever. By Leah Curtin, RN, ScD(h), FAAN As Newton observed, for every action in nature there’s an equal…
A sense of injustice is essential to the survival of the human race. Current events re-enforce the sense that some behavior breeches the social contract that professionals have…
In 2015, the American Nurses Association (ANA) revised the Code of Ethics for Nurses (The Code) to better reflect “the complexities of modern nursing, to simplify and more…
Leadership success requires understanding that healthcare organizations are a world of connections. I WAS SITTING in my easy chair watching Monday night football when I experienced a tiny epiphany:…
The public needs a better understanding of what nurses do, so tell your story.
At some point the political questions of the day collapse. It’s the day the economic issues, and the immigration issues, the coronavirus issues, the race issues feel like…
The author explores ethical questions about caring for a baby with profound birth defects and offers a nursing answer.
An ethical will serves as a vehicle for distilling a lifetime of wisdom and relaying messages of hope and love.
I’m an RN working in a pediatric unit. I was caring for a patient and family when my hospital’s security service contacted me to ask that I inform…
Real nurses nurture their young. By Leah Curtin, RN, ScD(h), FAAN My mother once told me that the first half of your life is all about acquiring things—an…
Lives in the balance By Leah Curtin, RN, ScD(h), FAAN It’s 3 am and you’re called to an apartment complex for a person down. You arrive and find…
More nurses skilled in ethics are needed to help nurses cope with on-the-job ethical dilemmas.
The American Red Cross has served our country for more than 135 years. In honor of African-American History Month, we wanted to spotlight three extraordinary women – Frances…
Reconciling trust, ethics, and caring. Takeaways: For 17 consecutive years, nurses have received the highest rating in the Gallup honesty and ethics survey. Individual nurse behavior can influence…
I am a new RN working in an inner-city emergency department. Some of our patients are well known by the staff, who often describe them in conversations and…
The federal government recently made important changes to the rules and regulations on patient restraint and seclusion. Here’s what you need to know.
Few Americans know that a U.S. Navy nurse may lose his 18-year career because he decided he could no longer in good conscience continue force-feeding hunger striking detainees…
Here, in the United States, a lot has been happening lately; the kinds of things that represent some of the worst problems that beset our world—ISIS, Syria, North Korea,…
With all the concern about ethics today, little attention is paid to the way healthcare professionals treat one another. Nonetheless, the ethics of a profession delimit the role…
Leah Curtin discusses the challenge of a moral problem.
Recently I discovered a colleague on my unit impaired by substance use disorder (SUD). What should I do to protect patients from harm, while keeping the nurse’s health…
Leah Curtin discusses the difficulty of making choices in health care and includes a challenging situation she experienced as a student.
I live in a state that restricts access to certain healthcare services, and in some cases requires me to report things that will compromise the health of my…
Examine the ethical and legal issues of patient privacy.
Is the complexity of nurse staffing compatible with the blunt force of a law? FEW can doubt that nursing administration knows a great deal more about safe staffing…
What we know…and how long we’ve known it By Leah Curtin, RN, ScD(h), FAAN Why do some people stay healthy, while others get sick? Over the last 5…
Once you’ve decided that early childhood development is one key to a healthy life, you’re forced into a world that’s part neurobiology and psychoneuroendocrinology, part immunology, and part…
Know the warning signs and stay calm. (more…)
Understanding the difference between fact and opinion Originally published May 17, 2017; updated August 6, 2021 Seriously, facts aren’t opinions…and all opinions are not equal. In today’s world of…
5 reasons why pandemics will be more frequent
We must prepare now for future outbreaks. In 1918, nurses played a pivotal role in the Spanish flu pandemic that killed about 675,000 Americans…
A cold, hard lesson about patient dumping
A 22-year-old woman with Asperger’s syndrome was seen on a frigid night in January 2018 for a fall-related head injury in the University of…
A kinder, gentler workplace
Others may not notice your courtesy, but they will notice your rudeness. (more…)
Addressing moral distress and resilience in nursing
ANA joined leading nursing organizations at a State of the Science Symposium in Baltimore, Maryland from August 11 to 12, 2016. Forty-six nurse leaders…
America’s dark secret
Words about equality, friendship, and peace must be accompanied by action. (more…)
An ethical approach
Guidance for navigating complex healthcare dilemmas. From the joyous celebrations at the sound of a newborn’s first cries to the solemn moment when a…
ANA Center for Ethics and Human Rights publishes annual report
The ANA Center for Ethics and Human Rights is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2020. In its annual report for 2019, the center looks…
ANA News
Center for Ethics and Human Rights recognized with prestigious Cornerstone Award The American Nurses Association (ANA) Center for Ethics and Human Rights has been…
Assessing the ethical climate: An environmental scan
Nurses offer insights on day-to-day ethical challenges. By Liz Stokes, JD, MA, RN At the June 2017 American Nurses Association (ANA) Membership Assembly in…
Before blowing the whistle, learn to protect yourself
Don’t let fear of reprisal stop you from reporting serious misconduct.
Beyond a box of chocolates
Often, patients and families express their gratitude for a special nurse’s outstanding care with spoken thanks or heartfelt commendations written to a nursing supervisor.…
Beyond a box of chocolates
Often, patients and families express their gratitude for a special nurse’s outstanding care with spoken thanks or heartfelt commendations written to a nursing supervisor.…
Building moral resilience to neutralize moral distress
Moral distress occurs when one recognizes one’s moral responsibility in a situation; evaluates the various courses of action; and identifies, in accordance with one’s…
Can you fire a patient?
The answer may surprise you. WHAT can you do with a patient who won’t comply with any of your directives? You’ve provided education until…
Case study: Coerced consent
“Coercion is commonly said to invalidate consent, and that is always true if the source of the coercion is the physician.
Compassion: A nurse’s primary virtue
Strengthening compassion may help you avoid burnout. Nurses, we’re told, are fundamentally compassionate people. In fact, nurse burnout could be defined as the loss…
Concerns about calling out sick
I’m a new nurse employed in a hospital and would like to better understand a nurse’s responsibility around calling out sick. On the inpatient…
Creating a Magnet® culture using the ANA Code of Ethics
One hospital’s Magnet workgroup used a Code of Ethics program to transform nursing practice.
Creating ethical environments in nursing
To uphold workplace ethics, leaders must send the message that unethical behavior is never acceptable, no matter who’s demonstarting it.
Discontinuing medically administered nutrition
Support patient’s values, beliefs, and goals. Takeaways: Medically administered nutrition and hydration (MANH) is indicated for individuals with chronic, complex, or serious illness for…
Does a right to refuse treatment include a right to demand it?
According to the dictionary, the word integrity is a noun, and it means either adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character;…
Errors, care, and the bottom line
Try a mock survey to ensure patient safety. PRESIDENT Calvin Coolidge once said, “The chief business of the American people is business,” but that…
Ethics and global health outreach programs
Plan ahead to ensure a successful and respectful experience. Takeaways: Embarking on a global health trip includes both logistical and ethical considerations. Preparation before…
Ethics and personal safety on the frontlines of COVID-19
I’m an emergency department (ED) nurse and worry about becoming critically ill from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Despite years of pandemic anticipation and months…
Ethics and the quality of care
Leah Curtin discusses the issue of quality care from an ethical perspective.
Ethics case study: ‘Just watch them die…’
According to the Associated Press, a Brookdale Senior Residence facility* worker who identified herself as a nurse, refused to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to…
Ethics case study: Poor staffing results in brain-damaged patient
Shirley Keck, age 61, was admitted to Kansas medical center. Because of understaffing of nurses in the hospital, Shirley’s nurse did not assess her…
Ethics for nurses in everyday practice
In recent years, most of the world’s people have celebrated their diversity: different races and languages, religions and cultures, and social mores. These differences…
Ethics for nurses in everyday practice: How stupid can you get?
Staffing is an issue at this 150-bed proprietary acute-care hospital. More than 100 of the hospital’s nurses, led by Mary Sims*, RN, signed a…
Ethics for nurses in everyday practice: Insubordination in the ICU?
What happens when there is no room in the ICU for an ED patient?
Ethics in a pandemic
Disasters, including global pandemics such as COVID-19, disrupt standard care and present ethical challenges. Planning helps us prepare for disasters, but it can’t eliminate…
Ethics of bedside arraignments
I am a medical-surgical nurse and admitted a patient to my unit who was arrested and injured during the commission of an alleged crime.…
Florence Nightingale: Moments of interface between past and present
During a recent clinical orientation with a group of about 170 nursing students, I projected a slide bearing a well-known photo of Florence Nightingale,…
For once, ethics and the ‘bottom line’ agree
Author Leah Curtin discusses the dangers of bottom-line thinking.
Foundations for Practice and Action: Scope and Standards for Practice
New standards are a call to action.
From our readers…Negative effects of shackling pregnant incarcerated women
The author advocates for more respectful treatment of pregnant women who are incarcerated.
From the Ethics Box: Right to Try
My patient is terminally ill. There may be a treatment, but it isn’t FDA approved. Do patients have a right to try investigational treatments,…
From the ethics inbox: Conflict in duty to provide care when disaster strikes
I am a registered nurse in Florida and have worked at a local hospital for over 10 years. Last fall, I was terminated because…
From the Ethics Inbox: Coping with incivility in academia
I am a new assistant professor at a university, after 12 years in my previous academic position. I was excited to become part of…
From the ethics inbox: Reporting a sentinel event
Note from the editor: This new recurring department presents selected emails that ANA has received from nurses, along with responses from the ANA Center…
Going from the gut
The current emphasis on best practices, guidelines, and checklists make cause healthcare professionals to turn off their judgment and go by the book –…
Good intentions eclipsed
Leah Curtin discusses how negative effects of work on work/life balance and mandatory overtime affect patient care.
Healing the wounds: Quantum nursing V
Quantum nursing demands that nurses honor each person’s humanity, promote independence and autonomy, and offer the opportunity for individuals to redefine for themselves who…
How do we get into morally questionable situations?
Leah Curtin discusses the dangers of bottom-line thinking.
How to address racial injustice in the workplace and community
I am a white frontline nurse in a medium-sized, full-service hospital. I am profoundly moved by the injustices I see occurring to ethnically and…
How to avoid the pitfalls of social media
You may face serious consequences if you use social media and other new technologies inappropriately.
Improving HCAHPS scores the old fashioned way
Hospitals seeking to raise their HCAHPS score should focus on old-fashioned values—courtesy, kindness,respect, discipline, and commitment.
Informed consent for foreign-educated health professionals
Divina Gunito* was the first in her family to graduate from college, and now it was her turn to help her loved ones. She decided…
Is political advocacy ethical for nurses?
I recently saw a political ad featuring a nurse using her name and licensed credentials to support a particular candidate and his views on…
Issues up close
For many nurses today, the workplace may feel like uncharted territory. New technologies, bold advances in health care, and a growing urgency to collaborate…
Last Breath: The ethics of pharmacologic paralysis
Should patients receive neuromuscular blockers while mechanical ventilation is withdrawn?
Leadership: Making things better
According to the Huffington Post, “A recent survey by the World Economic Forum found that 86 percent of respondents believe we are suffering a global…
Lies and the lying liars who tell them
The impact of lying on individuals and society. While human history is rife with evidence of lying, never has lying been writ so large…
Medical futility: A nurse’s viewpoint
Caring for a medically futile patient can be a wrenching emotional experience. Learn how to cope with the complex medical, ethical, and legal issues…
Medicare for all? Why not?
If President Trump really wants a healthcare plan that gives him a big win by covering all Americans, reducing insurance costs, and cutting the…
Navigating competing ethical and civil-legal obligations
I’m a school nurse at an elementary school where I’ve cared for a student with an ongoing illness who now has been enrolled in…
Navigating ethical dilemmas in complex care settings
Better ethical preparedness I work in a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), and we’ve had four deaths in the last week. While I
recognize…
No peeking allowed
Electronic health records give healthcare providers faster, more efficient access to patient information. Experts hope to make the data less vulnerable to security breaches.
NPs on the ethics committee: What is your decision?
The Ethical Case to Consider: A mother reports that her youngest child is 18-years-old and she has two adult children who are 23- and…
Nurse responsibility in advancing global health
To: Ethics Advisory Board From: Volunteer RN Subject: Global health outreach With the recent earthquake in Haiti and the devastation that country has experienced,…
Nursing ethics and shared governance model
Through shared governance, nurses are encouraged to participate in organizational decision-making to satisfy professional obligations. Incorporating ethical competence and professional development into everyday nursing…
Nursing ethics for the 21st century
In August 2014, ANA participated as a strategic partner with 50 nursing leaders who came together in Baltimore for a summit meeting on Nursing…
Nursing ethics report released
Access “A blueprint for 21st century nursing ethics: Report of the National Nursing Summit”
Nursing’s ethical commitment to effective patient communication
Nurses need more than solid technical skills to provide ethical care. A recent AMA Ethical Force Program report casts a spotlight on effective patient…
Pain management: An ethical approach
ANA’s new position statement on pain management offers guidance When a federal law permanently expanded medication-assisted treatment (MAT) prescribing authority to NPs and PAs…
Patients need more sleep
By Leah Curtin, RN, ScD(h), FAAN “Sleep, gentle sleep that…knits up the raveled sleave of care.” —Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act II, Scene II As most…
Problem of psychiatric patient ED boarding
Leaders can advocate for changes to reduce ED boarding and crowding. IN SEPTEMBER 2012, in Update 2 to the Comprehensive Accreditation Manual for Hospitals, The…
Providing ethics consultation in the middle of a pandemic
As a new graduate RN, I was confronted with the case of allowing a natural death for a 6-month old baby girl who survived…
Quantum ethics: Coming to grips with the dark side
Nurses have an ethical duty to address the web of relationships, expectations, and egocentrism that influences them.
Research ethics: What nurses need to know
I’ve been asked to care for patients who are participating in a research study. What are the ethical guidelines for this type of practice?
Restraints, patient rights, and the confused patient
Author Leah Curtin analyzes the ethics of a case of confusion and restraints.
Science: A universal source of ethics?
“It really doesn’t matter whether you are Muslim or Christian or Jew. In every religion, in every country, in every region at every time,…
Searching for transparency at Guantanamo Bay
A tour of the detainee facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba leaves key questions unanswered.
Secrets, lies, and cover-ups
The impact of the new healthcare bill can’t be hidden forever. By Leah Curtin, RN, ScD(h), FAAN As Newton observed, for every action in…
Sense of injustice
A sense of injustice is essential to the survival of the human race. Current events re-enforce the sense that some behavior breeches the social…
Situational awareness and the Nursing Code of Ethics
In 2015, the American Nurses Association (ANA) revised the Code of Ethics for Nurses (The Code) to better reflect “the complexities of modern nursing,…
Succeeding in complicated times
Leadership success requires understanding that healthcare organizations are a world of connections. I WAS SITTING in my easy chair watching Monday night football when I…
The ‘fake’ news effect
At some point the political questions of the day collapse. It’s the day the economic issues, and the immigration issues, the coronavirus issues, the…
The Babies Doe: Finding middle ground
The author explores ethical questions about caring for a baby with profound birth defects and offers a nursing answer.
The ethical will: A loving legacy
An ethical will serves as a vehicle for distilling a lifetime of wisdom and relaying messages of hope and love.
The ethics of cooperating with law enforcement
I’m an RN working in a pediatric unit. I was caring for a patient and family when my hospital’s security service contacted me to…
The giving time
Real nurses nurture their young. By Leah Curtin, RN, ScD(h), FAAN My mother once told me that the first half of your life is…
The opioid crisis and the matter of consent
Lives in the balance By Leah Curtin, RN, ScD(h), FAAN It’s 3 am and you’re called to an apartment complex for a person down.…
The practice of ethics
More nurses skilled in ethics are needed to help nurses cope with on-the-job ethical dilemmas.
Three Red Cross Women Who Persevered: African American History Month
The American Red Cross has served our country for more than 135 years. In honor of African-American History Month, we wanted to spotlight three…
Trust me. I’m a nurse
Reconciling trust, ethics, and caring. Takeaways: For 17 consecutive years, nurses have received the highest rating in the Gallup honesty and ethics survey. Individual…
Unconscious bias and the EHR
I am a new RN working in an inner-city emergency department. Some of our patients are well known by the staff, who often describe…
Understanding the new standards for patient restraint and seclusion
The federal government recently made important changes to the rules and regulations on patient restraint and seclusion. Here’s what you need to know.
Viewpoint: Nurse’s refusal to force feed Gitmo prisoners triggers debate
Few Americans know that a U.S. Navy nurse may lose his 18-year career because he decided he could no longer in good conscience continue…
We vs. they
Here, in the United States, a lot has been happening lately; the kinds of things that represent some of the worst problems that beset our…
What nurses owe one another
With all the concern about ethics today, little attention is paid to the way healthcare professionals treat one another. Nonetheless, the ethics of a…
What to do when a colleague is impaired
Recently I discovered a colleague on my unit impaired by substance use disorder (SUD). What should I do to protect patients from harm, while…
When good people make hard choices…*
Leah Curtin discusses the difficulty of making choices in health care and includes a challenging situation she experienced as a student.
When laws and nursing ethics collide
I live in a state that restricts access to certain healthcare services, and in some cases requires me to report things that will compromise…
Why laws can’t guarantee safe staffing levels
Is the complexity of nurse staffing compatible with the blunt force of a law? FEW can doubt that nursing administration knows a great deal…
Why some people are healthy, and others are not
What we know…and how long we’ve known it By Leah Curtin, RN, ScD(h), FAAN Why do some people stay healthy, while others get sick?…
Why some people are healthy, and others are not: Part 2
Once you’ve decided that early childhood development is one key to a healthy life, you’re forced into a world that’s part neurobiology and psychoneuroendocrinology,…
You’re not necessarily entitled to your opinion…
Understanding the difference between fact and opinion Originally published May 17, 2017; updated August 6, 2021 Seriously, facts aren’t opinions…and all opinions are not equal.…