Client centered nursing ethics

Client centered nursing ethics. Nursing is a profession that serves the needs of people whose autonomy and well-being are compromised by illness and injury. Clearly then, nurses need professional ethics to guide their decisions and practice. The philosophical theories of ethics and the practical demands of nursing are so distant from each other that synthesizing them presents a complex challenge. The author is able to meet the challenge by calling on her qualifications in both fields. In advancing a conception of a client centered approach to nursing ethics, she offers a foundation for professional practice, ethical decisions, accountability and debate. She proposes a list of virtues of the ideal nurse and an ethical maxim that the nurse should act to maximize the patient's self-determination. Similarities and differences are drawn between this maxim and philosophical ethics, the philosophy of care and professional codes of ethics. Kalaitzidis makes an important contribution to professional ethics in nursing. Her proposals are significant and relevant to health care policy makers, to authors of professional codes, to nursing scholars, to nurses and to students.