Brave spaces in nursing ethics education: Courage through pedagogy.

Background: Nursing students must graduate prepared to bravely enact the art and science of nursing in environments infiltrated with ethical challenges. Given the necessity and moral obligation of nurses to engage in discourse within nursing ethics, nursing students must be provided a moral supportive learning space for these opportunities. Situating conversations and pedagogy within a brave space may offer a framework to engage in civil discourse while fostering moral courage for learners.

Conflicts of conscience in the neonatal intensive care unit: Perspectives of Alberta.

Background:: Limited knowledge of the experiences of conflicts of conscience found in nursing literature.

Objectives:: To explore the individual experiences of a conflict of conscience for neonatal nurses in Alberta.

Research Design:: Interpretive description was selected to help situate the findings in a meaningful clinical context.

Conscientious objection: a call to nursing leadership.

In this paper we argue that nurse leaders need to work actively to create morally supportive environments for nurses in Canada that provide adequate room to exercise conscientious objection. Morally supportive environments engender a safe atmosphere to engage in open dialogue and action regarding conflict of conscience. The CNA's 2008 Code of Ethics for Registered Nurses has recognized the importance of conscientious objection in nursing and has created key guidelines for the registered nurse to follow when a conflict in conscience is being considered or declared.