ETHICAL COMPONENTS OF NURSING SERVICE ADMINISTRATION.
Contributors: University Of Illinois At Chicago, Health Sciences Center.
Published: 1988
Number of pages: 170
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: Nursing service administrators (NSAs) are responsible for upholding the humanistic values of their profession and for achieving organizational goals within given constraints. Thus, nurse administrators are challenged to promote the welfare of clients and nurses as well as to meet obligations to their institutions. The intent of this inquiry was to describe NSAs' beliefs, values, thoughts, and perceptions regarding ethical components of their practice. Incorporating concepts from nursing and general ethics into administrative practice provided the foundation upon which this study was based. A purposeful sample of eleven nurse administrators from moderate-sized, accredited, community hospitals were interviewed in person, using a semi-structured interview guide. The discussions were stimulated by the use of a specific case situation involving nursing personnel and staffing issues. Analysis of primarily deductively derived content categories using classical ethical theoretical concepts revealed NSAs' fundamental values of fidelity to patients and allegiance toward nursing staff. Multiple obligations were the norm with primary obligations expressed to patients, to nursing staff, and to the nursing profession. The NSAs used the principles of respect for persons, beneficence, fidelity, and justice when making ethical decisions. Strategies to uphold values and meet obligations were delineated. Several constraints exist that affected the degree to which NSAs perceive success in attaining their ideals.

Major themes of caring, commitment, and collaboration evolved as inductively derived content categories that encompass individual and collective values. These themes upheld the humanistic values of the nursing profession and recognized the interdependence of people working together in organizations. The NSAs presented a vision of an ideal health care organization that embraces a cooperative morality to guide care. Implementation of this vision holds a promise of creating an environment in which there is full integration of all its participants and where people collaborate toward the common goal of quality client care. Thus an ethic of connectedness emerged that serves as a framework for ethical nursing administrative practice.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-09, Section: B, page: 3673.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO, HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER, 1988.

School code: 0806.