N18: Nursing Ethics
Course Overview
CE Hours
3 CE Credits
Course Description
Nursing Ethics examines ethical issues in nursing practice from multiple perspectives including virtue ethics, principle-based ethics, pluralist ethics, and global nursing ethics. This course reviews the historical development of nursing ethics education, explores virtue ethics as a holistic approach to moral dilemmas in nursing, addresses the ethical implications of international nurse recruitment and brain drain, examines the intersection of nursing ethics with human rights and genetics on a global scale, and makes the case for a pluralist, contextualist approach to nursing ethics that expands the moral agency of nurses. Learners will be equipped to make basic ethical decisions on foundational and global nursing ethics issues.
Course Learning Objectives
At the end of this course, learners will be able to:
- Apply multiple ethical frameworks to analyze nursing ethics cases in clinical and global contexts
- Describe the historical development of nursing ethics education including key challenges in implementing ethics courses for nursing students
- Explain virtue ethics as an approach to moral dilemmas in nursing and describe how it complements principle-based ethical frameworks
- Identify the ethical implications of international nurse recruitment and brain drain for source countries and global health equity
- Describe the role of nursing in contributing to an international declaration on human rights, genetics, and public health policy
- Distinguish between the Traditional View and the Theory View of nursing ethics and explain the limitations of each
- Describe a pluralist approach to nursing ethics and explain how it expands the moral agency of nurses
- Explain the importance of global justice and a viable global nursing ethic in addressing health disparities worldwide
Course Format and Faculty
Course Format:
Online linked resources and lectures available anytime, 24/7. Includes one multiple-choice exam taken at the end of the course. A passing grade of 75% is required. Upon passing, learners may print their certificate immediately.
Course Developers and Instructors:
R. Klimes, PhD, MPH (Johns Hopkins University) is a scholar and author in health-related research, health behaviors, ethics, end-of-life care, and overall wellness. He has written numerous research reports and books and has held academic and leadership roles in higher education and public health internationally.
Course Time:
Approximately 3 hours for online study, test taking, course evaluation feedback, and certificate printing.
