Professional responsibility, nurses, and conscientious objection: A framework for ethical evaluation.

Conscientious objections (CO) can be disruptive in a variety of ways and may disadvantage patients and colleagues who must step-in to assume care. Nevertheless, nurses have a right and responsibility to object to participation in interventions that would seriously harm their sense of integrity. This is an ethical problem of balancing risks and responsibilities related to patient care.

Moral Resilience: Managing and Preventing Moral Distress and Moral Residue.

Moral resilience is the ability to deal with an ethically adverse situation without lasting effects of moral distress and moral residue. This requires morally courageous action, activating needed supports and doing the right thing. Morally resilient people also have developed self-confidence by confronting such situations so they can maintain their self-esteem, no matter what life delivers.

The journey of women with breast cancer who engage in mindfulness-based stress reduction: a qualitative exploration.

This phenomenological study explores the "lived experience" of 8 women with stage I or II breast cancer who used mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). The following 4 themes were identified: (1) the cancer journey: a shift in perception, (2) the treatment journey: the experience of MBSR, (3) the journey toward recovery, and (4) the journey toward self.

Clinical ethics committees: organizational support for ethical practice.

The tripartite functions of an ethics committee are case consultation, institutional policy review and development, and ethics education. Preparation before calling an ethics consultation is critical. In addition, serving on an ethics committee provides a personally and professionally rewarding experience because of the service performed for staff, patients, and families.

Palliative wound care: a concept analysis.

The concept of palliative wound care is in its infancy, with relevant literature emerging in the 1980s. Palliative wound care has evolved over time as new research and practice initiatives continue to explore its usefulness. We applied Rodgers' evolutionary concept analysis to a conceptual exploration of palliative wound care.

Practical use of the nursing Code of Ethics: part II.

The Code Provisions V through IX focus on a variety of responsibilities for the professional nurse. Provision V spotlights nurses' obligation to the same values and actions for themselves as are espoused in The Code for their patients. Provision VI addresses the responsibility of all nurses to maintain quality patient care, regardless of their roles in the health care system.

Teaching innovation.

Innovation in healthcare is essential to solve the "wicked problems" currently facing healthcare. This article focuses on nature of innovation and how it operates, how innovators think and view problems, how the theory and practice of innovation can be taught in novel ways, and how organizational cultures foster or suppress innovation. Examples of teaching strategies and nurse-driven innovation illustrate the theory and practice of innovation.

Practical use of the nursing code of ethics: part I.

The Code (ANA, 2001) provides the nurse guidance for legal and ethical responsibilities to patients and, in the broader sense, to society. The first provision calls for honoring the human dignity in all patients and colleagues. It lays the groundwork for the importance of the essential ethical principle of autonomy, the right to self-determination.

Whistleblowing: role of organizational culture in prevention and management.

An ethical culture is necessary to prevent and manage whistleblowing. Whistleblowing is often the result of an organizational culture that lacks the accountability for its espoused values.

Whistleblowers: troublemakers or virtuous nurses?

Whistleblowing is the action taken by a nurse who goes outside the organization for the public's best interest when it is unresponsive to reporting the danger through the organization's proper channels. As a professional, every nurse needs to champion whistleblowing rather than ostracizing nurses with the moral courage to speak out on unethical practices.