Ethics and Issues in Contemporary Nursing

Margaret A. Burkhardt and Alvita Nathaniel have improved Ethics and Issues in Contemporary Nursing (ISBN 9781418042745) to help both students and professionals understand the importance of values in professional and even personal situations. This textbook is a must-read for nursing students as it offers up-to-date information on models, theories, and principles and trends that guide nursing care. It also uses new examples (such as the incident of Hurricane Katrina) to illustrate concepts. The authors discuss principled behavior and how to develop and apply it in the professional domain. The book also explains current global issues that impinge on the nursing practice, and how nurses can make a difference. Topics such as social, philosophical, and other historical forces influencing the development of nursing, ethical theory, ethical principles, values clarification, values development, and ethical decision making are explained in full detail. Ethics and Issues in Contemporary Nursing also covers legal, professional relationship, scholarship, and professional issues, practice issues related to technology, health care changes and challenges and health policy issues. The helpful appendix contains the code of ethics for nurses, a patient's bill of rights, and the ICN code of ethics for nurses. Author Margaret A. Burkhardt has co-written articles on holistic and spirituality care and is a member of the American Holistic Nurses association, while Alvita Nathaniel teaches at the school of Nursing at Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center of West Virginia University. Each chapter of the book features highlights and summaries plus discussion questions and activities to help students test how much they have learned.