Related Experiment Videos
The ethics of compliance: a dialectic
1Department of Nursing, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA.
ANS. Advances in Nursing Science
|September 1, 1996
Summary
This study explores ethical considerations in therapeutic regimens, proposing nurse-client engagement as a superior alternative to patient compliance. It moves beyond paternalism to foster a more collaborative therapeutic relationship.
Area of Science:
- Nursing Ethics
- Bioethics
- Healthcare Philosophy
Background:
- Patient compliance with therapeutic regimens raises ethical questions regarding autonomy and beneficence.
- Existing frameworks often rely on paternalistic or coercive assumptions.
- The limitations of isolated autonomy in healthcare decision-making are also recognized.
Purpose of the Study:
- To offer an alternative ethical framework for nursing therapeutics beyond patient compliance.
- To explore the nurse-client relationship through a dialectical lens.
- To propose 'engagement' as a synthesis that addresses the shortcomings of compliance and isolated autonomy.
Main Methods:
- Dialectical analysis of the nurse-client relationship.
- Application of Gadow's framework of ethical knowledge.
- Exploration of compliance as thesis and isolated autonomy as antithesis.
Main Results:
- Compliance is critiqued for its paternalistic and coercive underpinnings.
- Isolated autonomy presents dilemmas concerning power, consumerism, and beneficence.
- Nurse-client engagement emerges as a synthesis transcending these limitations.
Conclusions:
- Nurse-client engagement offers a more ethically sound and collaborative approach to therapeutic regimens.
- This framework moves beyond the dichotomy of compliance versus isolated autonomy.
- Ethical nursing therapeutics are better served by mutual engagement rather than adherence to prescribed regimens.