Nurses’ ethical reasoning and behaviour: A literature review

This review provides a more nuanced understanding of the way nurses reason and act in ethically difficult situations than emerged previously and helps to support nurses in their ethical care and help them to change their conformist practises.

Abstract

This review provides us with a more nuanced understanding of the way nurses reason and act in ethically difficult situations than emerged previously. If we want to support nurses in their ethical care and if we want to help them to change their conformist practises, more research is needed. Especially needed are in-depth qualitative studies that explore the experiences of nurses. Such studies could help us better understand not only how nurses reason and behave in practise but also the relationship between these two processes.