Ethics: A Journey From the Beginning

Connecticut Nursing News, Dec 2004-Feb 2005 by Polifroni, E Carol

Dr. Barbara Bermett Jacobs spoke eloquently and vigorously for an hour engaging an audience with her expertise in ethical knowing, her ability to communicate her passion for the rights of individuals and of nurses and her unwavering belief that nurses must be aware of their role in the ethics of health care delivery in the twenty first century.

Jacobs discussed with the audience classic ethical cases to illustrate key points of informed consent, protection of human subjects, privacy versus confidentiality, and virtue ethics. She demonstrated for the audience the difference between one's privacy and the need to protect information about individuals in a confidential manner. She elaborated on what informed consent really means and the nurse's role within this activity.

She discussed the evolution of the Code of Ethics and the use of the Code of Ethics in everyday practice. As a post-doctoral fellow at the Center for Ethics at Georgetown University, Jacobs spoke of her work and study with major world philosophers-Beauchamp, Childress, Pellegrino and others. She regaled the audience with her concerns for individuals and systems within an ethical lens.

The hour flew by and the audience was distressed when the session came to a close; they had just begun the ethical walk and needed more. Jacobs showed that ethics is part of everyday life and every patient encounter. She illustrated how one is empowered with an ethical lens and how nurses must perceive events as ethical; whether they are big or small (if there is such a circumstance of a small ethical issue); whether there is one person or whole families involved; or whether it is a single voice or the voice of many. Ethical knowing and the ethical actions of the nurse are guided by values, engagement, relationships and an ability to justify one's decisions in times of such crisis. Jacobs provided the audience with tools and knowledge to use in ethical conduct as a professional nurse.

E. Carol Polifroni, RN, Ed.D, CNAA, BC