Multicultural ethics in nursing education: a potential threat to responsible practice

If nurses are to make the kind of contribution they are capable of making to the betterment of human health, then they must critically examine the moral injunctions and tenets of multicultural ethics that are being widely promulgated in nursing education. Such an examination, undertaken in this article, shows that responsible nursing practice cannot be realized under multicultural ethics. An alternate ethical basis for practice, a transcultural ethics grounded in moderate realism, is described and recommended because it provides principles that permit the realization of responsible practice.