Ethics and Law for Australian Nurses

Kim Atkins is a registered nurse and an academic philosopher. She currently works as a consultant for the Department of Health and Human Services, Tasmania, and is an Honorary Research Associate in the Centre for Agency, Values and Ethics at Macquarie University, NSW, and in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Tasmania. She taught ethics to undergraduate students in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at the University of Tasmania and the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Indigenous Health at the University of Wollongong. Atkins' research interests are personal and moral identity, embodiment and ethics. She has numerous journal articles and three books to her credit, most recently, Narrative Identity and Moral Identity, A Practical Perspective (Oxford and New York: Routledge, 2008). Sheryl de Lacey is Associate Professor of Nursing at Flinders University and a registered nurse. She has taught ethics and law to undergraduate and postgraduate students for many years. She has particular expertise in the area of reproductive technology, and has been an appointed expert advisor to a range of government committees. She has numerous journal articles, conference papers and book chapters to her credit, and has published in the Journal of Law & Medicine, Nursing Inquiry, International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics, Human Reproduction, and the Australian Journal of Emergency Nursing. Bonnie Britton is a tutor in philosophy and logic and a PhD candidate at the University of Tasmania. She has a particular interest in questions of moral identity, political justice and non-violence. Her previous research has included non-violent resistance, narrative ethics and personal identity.

Introduction; 1. Understanding the human person; 2. Understanding legal rights and obligations; 3. Nursing and the legal system; 4. The nurse-patient relationship; 5. Consent; 6. Duty of care and professional negligence; 7. Patient information, confidentiality and trust; 8. 'Trust me, I'm a nurse'; 9. Witnessing and making mistakes.