ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses ethical aspects of nursing, a professional field that has come of age in terms of practice and ethical progress. It discusses the more distant history of nursing ethics, drawing on some fragments of scholarship from Charlotte A. Aikens's 1923 text Studies in Ethics for Nursing. The chapter also discusses that debates and controversies relating to more recent history of nursing ethics. It argues that a 'slow' approach to ethics as applied to care is indicated. The chapter suggests future directions of nursing ethics scholarship and research. It attends to what has gone before, contributing to the understanding of the moral identity of modern nursing and to the evolution of a distinctive nursing ethics. The chapter also suggests that a critical approach to ethical theory is necessary and argues that progress in nursing ethics is best served by approaches that are: inter-professional, interdisciplinary, international and innovative.
