Nurse practitioner ethicist reconsidered: A nominally flawed proposition?

Area of Science:

• Bioethics
• Nursing Science

Background:

• Distinction between nursing as a discipline/practice and clinical ethics as an emerging discipline.
• Acknowledging professional background can inform secondary endeavors like clinical ethics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a counterargument to the thesis that nurse practitioner ethicists are distinct from nurse ethicists.
• To clarify the differing goals and accountability of nursing ethics and clinical ethics.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of the distinction between nursing and clinical ethics.
• Expanded definition of nursing ethics, including historical development and codes of conduct.
• Examination of nurse practitioner roles and accountability.

Main Results:

• Nursing and clinical ethics possess distinct reasons for existence and incommensurable goals.
• Nurse practitioners, despite expanded roles, remain accountable to nursing codes of ethics.
• Nurses functioning as clinical ethicists are accountable to the principles of clinical ethics.

Conclusions:

• The roles of nurse practitioner ethicists and clinical ethicists are distinct due to differing ethical frameworks and accountabilities.
• Understanding the unique goals of nursing ethics and clinical ethics is crucial for professional practice.