Teaching ethics in nursing curricula. Traditional and contemporary models

The teaching of ethics in nursing education has become increasingly important in recent years. While it was an important part of early nursing education, it nearly disappeared from the nursing curriculum during the 1950s and 1960s. The traditional method of ethics teaching, the Scientific Model, is no longer used in nursing education. However, the contemporary models of ethics teaching--the Moral Concepts Model, the Moral Issues Model, the Clinical Practice Model, and the Ethics Inquiry Model--are being implemented into baccalaureate, graduate, and doctoral education in nursing. Having different goals and employing different teaching methods, these models promise to achieve the overall goal for teaching ethics to nurses: to produce a morally accountable practitioner who is skilled in ethical decision making. The uses of these model are encouraged in all aspects of nursing education, regardless of type of curriculum and faculty preparation to teach ethics. Given the availability of ethics resources and faculty seminars/workshops on ethics teaching strategies, all or part of any of the models can be easily implemented in the majority of nursing education programs.