Ethical Dilemmas Faced by Critical Care Nurses in Clinical Practice: Walking the Line

Abstract

The experience of the critical care nurse includes frequent ethical dilemmas, both in patient care and in professional relationships. The moral development of the critical care nurse is presented in terms of learning theory, perceptive transformation, and ethical theory as it applies to the predominantly female profession of nursing. Four case studies and verbatim accounts of the experiences of critical care nurses illustrate moral development.