The Present Status and Future Directions of Nursing Ethics Education

Abstract

In today’s rapidly changing and technologically sophisticated health-care environment, nurses frequently encounter ethical issues in caring for patients. While ethical values have always been a part of nursing education, the resources needed for ethics education have not always been readily available to nursing students and practicing nurses. This review aims to describe the state of nursing ethics education in Korea and provide insights into its requirements and priorities. In order to train nurses to participate in ethical decision making, more contemporary models of ethics education are being mplemented in nursing programs. It is important for nurse educators to understand that ethics education should provide students with ways of conceptualizing ethical dilemmas and arriving at practical solutions. Furthermore, we argue that there is a need to develop Web-based continuing-education courses to enhance nurses’ ethical decision-making and advocacy roles.