A principle-based approach to nursing ethics

Abstract

In the previous chapter, the nature of ethics was considered briefly and a strategy offered for the identification of moral problems which arise from nursing practice. In the present chapter, an approach to such problems is set out and discussed. In formulating the approach we will need to consider a general outline of a framework for moral reasoning, to consider two influential moral theories, and to understand the relations between the various levels of the framework. In the final sections of this chapter it will be argued that level three of the framework captures the most important level of moral thinking for our purposes, and certain strengths of a principle-based approach will be outlined.