Ethics in Community Health Nursing Practice - Chapter 6 Professional Standards & Foundations

Vocabulary flashcards covering ethical foundations, historical codes, core principles, decision-making frameworks, and public health advocacy based on Chapter 6.

Florence Nightingale's Vision of Nursing

Envisioned nursing as a call to service, believing nurses should be individuals of impeccable character to establish enduring morals and values.

Morals

Shared societal norms regarding right and wrong conduct, passed down through generations.

Values

Beliefs concerning the inherent worth or importance of what is desired or esteemed within a community.

Nursing Codes

A framework to guide ethical obligations and actions, clarifying professional values and providing essential guidelines for ethical conduct in daily clinical practice.

The Nightingale Pledge (1893)

Created in 1893 as one of the earliest formal ethical frameworks in nursing.

ANA Code for Professional Nurses (1950)

Adopted in 1950 and subsequently revised five times.

International Code (ICN) (1954)

Adopted in Canada in 1954, serving as the first known international standard for nursing ethics.

First CNA Code (1980)

The initial ethical code established by the Canadian Nurses Association in 1980.

2017 Registered Nurses Update

A modern Canadian standards update established in 2017 for registered nurses.

2019 CCHN Standards

Canadian standards updated in 2019, specifically designed for community health nursing practice.

Ethical Decision Making

The cognitive process of navigating moral challenges and resolving complex dilemmas in community health nursing.

Moral Issues

Moral challenges facing the nursing profession.

Moral Dilemmas

Puzzling problems where morally justified reasons exist for both taking and avoiding a specific action.

Ethical Frameworks

Problem-solving processes that serve as definitive guides to ensure nursing decisions are sound and morally justifiable within the public sphere.

Vital Functions of Ethical Frameworks

Includes systematic guidance, justification of actions, professional accountability, and reduction of moral distress.

Reflective Practice Process

A 5-step process: 1. Assess the ethics and values, 2. Reflect on potential actions, 3. Select an ethical action, 4. Engage in the action, 5. Review and reflect on outcomes.

General Moral Obligations

Core societal duties including not harming others, respecting others, telling the truth, and keeping promises.

Veracity

The duty to tell the truth, acting as the bedrock that promotes trust in the therapeutic relationship between the nurse and patient.

Utilitarianism

Posits that the morality of an action is determined by its overall benefit, where the right action produces the greatest good or least harm in a given situation.

Deontology

An ethical perspective focused on duty, requiring that persons are treated as ends in themselves and never merely as means to the ends of others.

Principlism

An ethical approach built on core pillars: Autonomy, Nonmaleficence, Beneficence, and Distributive Justice.

Autonomy

An ethical principle emphasizing individual self-determination, which is prioritized heavily in acute care settings.

Beneficence

An ethical principle focused on doing good, prioritized alongside Distributive Justice in community health nursing.

Distributive Justice

The fair allocation of benefits and burdens within a society or community.

Acute Care vs. Community Health Focus

While acute care emphasizes individual autonomy, community health prioritizes Beneficence and Distributive Justice.

Communitarian Reasoning

Asserts that abstract principles are insufficient, and that history, tradition, and concrete moral communities must form the foundation of moral thinking and action.

Virtue Ethics

A focus within moral thinking centered on developing excellent character traits that dispose humans to act in accord with their natural good.

Virtues

Excellent character traits—such as compassion, integrity, and trustworthiness—that dispose humans to act in accord with their natural good.

The Ethic of Care

A core value of community health nursing, emphasizing responsibility in relationships and the morality of connection.

Feminist Inquiry

A critique of classical theories focused on gender, power, and socioeconomic status that examines the insidious contexts that oppress individuals within society.

Nursing Code of Ethics

The formal document outlining nursing commitments to safe, compassionate, and ethical care.

CNA Guidance

Provides a basis for advocacy and guidance during challenges, ensuring environments support safe and ethical patient care.

Social Accountability

Informs the public of ethical commitments and upholds the responsibilities of being a self-regulating profession directly accountable to society and served communities.

Community Health Mandate

The intersection of the national code of ethics and community-specific practice standards.

Confidentiality in CHN Practice

A core obligation to protect sensitive community information within complex social networks.

Accountability in CHN Practice

Taking ownership of professional actions and their direct impact on public health.

Advocacy and Ethics

Effecting systemic change and representing aggregate health interests in community practice.

Community Planning

Applying resources to effect systemic changes in how people live.

Public Health Focus

Benefitting aggregates to reduce group death or disability.

Nursing Duty in Advocacy

Advocacy promotes well-being, respects informed decisions, preserves dignity, and maintains the justice vital to public health.

Practical Advocacy Framework

Includes acting in best interests, following patient wishes, keeping patients informed, acting with diligence, offering impartial advice, and maintaining confidentiality.

Harm Principle

A foundational justification for action that sets the criteria for restricting individual liberty to prevent harm to others in a community.

Minimum Intervention (Least Restrictive Means)

The rule that full power and authority should only be used in exceptional circumstances, requiring discussion and education before coercion.

Reciprocity Principle

The principle stating that society must support individuals in fulfilling their public health duties.

Transparency Principle

Ensures public health decisions are made openly, clearly defining the context of moral choices.