Problematising autonomy and advocacy in nursing
- Authors: Cole, Clare , Wellard, Sally , Mummery, Jane
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Nursing Ethics Vol. 21, no. 5 (2014), p. 576-582
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Customarily patient advocacy is argued to be an essential part of nursing, and this is reinforced in contemporary nursing codes of conduct, as well as codes of ethics and competency standards governing practice. However, the role of the nurse as an advocate is not clearly understood. Autonomy is a key concept in understanding advocacy, but traditional views of individual autonomy can be argued as being outdated and misguided in nursing. Instead, the feminist perspective of relational autonomy is arguably more relevant within the context of advocacy and nurses' work in clinical healthcare settings. This article serves to highlight and problematise some of the assumptions and influences around the perceived role of the nurse as an advocate for patients in contemporary Western healthcare systems by focusing on key assumptions concerning autonomy inherent in the role of the advocate. © The Author(s) 2014.
Implied consent and nursing practice : Ethical or convenient?
- Authors: Cole, Clare
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Nursing Ethics Vol. 19, no. 4 (2012), p. 550-557
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Nursing professionals in a variety of practice settings routinely use implied consent. This form of consent is used in place of or in conjunction with informed or explicit consent. This article looks at one aspect of a qualitative exploratory study conducted in a Day of Surgery Admission unit. This article focuses on the examination of nurses' understandings of implied consent and its use in patient care in nursing practice. Data were collected through one-on-one interviews and analysed using a thematic analysis. Nurses participating in this study revealed that they routinely used implied consent in their nursing practice. This article will look at whether implied consent supports or impedes a patient's autonomy. © The Author(s) 2012.