Applying the four principles of ethics to continence care

Sixteen years ago the United Nations designated 1981 as the International Year of Disabled Persons. The key words for the year were equality and participation. These describe the four ethical principles of respect: autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice, and they are still applicable today. The nurse supporting continence-based needs in the client with learning disabilities needs to demonstrate equality and participation in his/her practice. Applied ethics as practised by the nurse is the application of values, rules, standards or principles that should guide decisions about what we ought to do. It gives meaning to the individual and collective experience of an illness. Nurses do not typically inform their practice by reflection upon their philosophy, and thus do not have insight into what illness or disease means for them or their clients.