Nurse bioethicist describes moral challenges confronting nurses

In an interview with Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Hub, nursing ethics professor Cynda Rushton, PhD, RN, said the COVID-19 pandemic is placing nurses in “uncharted territory.”  Nurses’ ethical framework has historically focused on the well-being of individual patients, she said, but the pandemic forces them to adopt a public health perspective, which focuses on maximizing the benefits and minimizing the harm for the greatest number of people. She offered advice for ways nurses can build moral resilience to help them weather the ethical challenges they may face. One way is to create a sense of community by sharing their experiences through the Frontline Nurses WikiWisdom Forum, which Rushton helped establish. (JHU Hub story, 4/6/20)