Ethical Frameworks for Decision Making in Nursing Practice and Research

Nurses are faced with ethical dilemmas in clinical practice and research. Nurses also facemany ethical dilemmas relative to their different roles and responsibilities as providers,clinicians, researchers, public health specialists, administrators, patient advocates, andhealth policy analysts. The purpose of this study is to synthesize the ethical frameworksfor decision-making in contemporary nursing practice and research. A systematic, computer-based literature and ancestry searches were conducted to retrieve articles from 1980to 2015. The data were collected from articles that focused on ethical dilemmas and theethical frameworks used to resolve them in nursing practice and research. The findingsindicate that international and national code of ethics from professional nursing organizationsaround the world are the standard references for nurses to frame their ethical decisionsin both nursing practice and research. Nursing research has many layers of codes,regulations, and laws, which provide nurses additional guidance and support in conductingresearch and making decisions involving complex, ethical, and research-related issues.The consistent use of ethical frameworks can lead to better patient care and outcomes