Nurses and whistleblowing: the ethical issues

Area of Science:

• Nursing Ethics
• Organizational Behavior
• Public Health Policy

Background:

• Whistleblowing, the public exposure of organizational wrongdoing, presents significant ethical and practical challenges for nurses.
• It is viewed as part of a spectrum of employee actions against organizational misconduct.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the ethical underpinnings of whistleblowing in nursing.
• To explore the applicability of consequentialist and deontological ethical frameworks to nursing whistleblowing.
• To examine the conflict of duties faced by nurses and advocate for improved whistleblower protections.

Main Methods:

• Ethical analysis using consequentialist and deontological perspectives.
• Discussion of nurse's duties to patients and employers.
• Examination of the impact of reprisals on whistleblowing.

Main Results:

• Consequentialism alone cannot resolve the harms and responsibilities associated with whistleblowing.
• Deontology highlights conflicting duties for nurses, but a duty to the patient should take precedence over duty to the employer.
• The threat of reprisals deters nurses from whistleblowing, necessitating better protection.

Conclusions:

• A deontological approach, prioritizing patient welfare, provides a stronger ethical basis for nursing whistleblowing.
• Existing protections for whistleblowing nurses are inadequate.
• Government and National Health Service (NHS) intervention is required to implement more robust whistleblower protection measures.