Mental health quality improvement: what about ethics?

Nurses are increasingly developing and coordinating quality improvement projects under the auspices of state, area health service and organization policies, however, ethical frameworks are commonly absent. This study aims to define key terms, provide an overview of current policy in relation to ethics and outline some procedures and processes for mental health nurses involved in such projects. The use of appropriate ethical frameworks has the potential to foster participation and safeguard participants by providing a greater assurance of integrity and confidentiality regarding quality improvement data collection, utilization and dissemination.