Related Experiment Videos
Covenantal relationships: grounding for the nursing ethic.
1School of Nursing, University of Virginia, Charlottesville.
ANS. Advances in Nursing Science
|July 1, 1988
Summary
This study argues that the nurse-patient relationship, founded on fidelity, offers a stronger basis for nursing ethics than institutional reform or team roles. This covenantal model grounds ethics in the unique nurse-patient experience.
Area of Science:
- Nursing Ethics
- Moral Philosophy
- Healthcare Relationships
Background:
- Critiques existing interpretations of nursing ethics grounded in social reform or healthcare team roles.
- Addresses recent articles in Advances In Nursing Science by Yarling and McElmurry, and Bishop and Scudder.
- Highlights the need for a more substantial foundation for nursing ethics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose and argue for covenantal relationships as a more robust foundation for nursing ethics.
- To connect nursing ethics to traditional moral theory through the principle of fidelity.
- To ground nursing ethics in the unique and inherent aspects of the nurse-patient relationship.
Main Methods:
- Philosophical argumentation and ethical analysis.
- Critique of existing literature on nursing ethics.
- Development of a theoretical model based on covenantal relationships and fidelity.
Main Results:
- Covenantal relationships between nurses and patients provide a more substantial foundation for nursing ethics.
- The moral principle of fidelity serves as the basis for this covenantal model.
- This model offers guidance for nurses and links nursing ethics to traditional moral theory.
Conclusions:
- The covenantal relationship model offers a superior framework for understanding and practicing nursing ethics.
- Fidelity within the nurse-patient relationship is central to ethical nursing practice.
- This approach grounds nursing ethics in the core experience of patient care.