Transforming Care: A Christian Vision of Nursing Practice by Mary Molewyk Doornbos;Ruth Groenhout;Kendra G. Hotz

Author:Mary Molewyk Doornbos;Ruth Groenhout;Kendra G. Hotz
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2008-08-30T17:28:00+00:00

Levels of Analysis

Ethical analysis and action shift as we consider different levels of social organization. For our purposes here we will divide ethical analysis into three levels, though in our everyday experience these levels are always interpenetrating. The first is the level of personal morality. As an individual, what do I believe, what should I be held responsible for, and what sorts of relationships are mandatory, acceptable, or unacceptable for me? The second level is that of institutional morality. This level looks at how the nurse fits into the institution of which she or he is a part. Finally, we have the level of nursing as a practice and the social structures of which it is a part. It is important to separate these three levels of ethical analysis, in part because the moral responsibilities of individuals differ at different levels. At the level of personal ethical decision making, I need to make sure that my own beliefs, responses, actions, and relationships are in line with the set of values I hold and the values I see portrayed in Scripture. These responsibilities fall squarely on me, and I cannot evade them by pointing to choices others make. But at the level of institutional analysis, we are not focused so much on individual responsibility as on corporate responsibility; there will be a need for cooperative action and consensus building in addition to the individual decision making that goes on at the personal level. Of course, in practice we do not leave our personal responsibility behind, but in the analysis of institutional morality our focus is elsewhere.

Finally, at the level of social structures we are focused to an even greater extent on the need for collective action. When we think about the place of nursing as a practice in the contemporary Western world, our analysis needs to go far beyond the question of what moral values an individual should try to live out. We need instead to think about what sort of a society we are and what sort of society we ought to be. As Christians, we are convinced that there will always be a gap between these two, until God's action renews creation, which means that there will always be a need for critical thought and collective action to work toward rectifying the injustices and destructive aspects of the institutional structures.

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