2. Nursing is a caring, compassionate profession.

Nurses do not just perform tasks or provide services,

they develop empathy for the needs of others and a connection with their patients.

Applying nursing core values in all your actions ensures the trust put in your hands by your patients and
fellow medical staff is well justified.

The top most important is being compassion encompasses empathy, caring and the promotion of each
patient’s dignity or human dignity. Being sensitive to the needs of your patients and your patients'
families is one of the most fundamental nursing values. However, we need to remember that even
though we have seen something a thousand times, this is probably their first. Treat every patient like
they were your family member, and treat their guests like they were your own. In fact, human dignity is
to understand respect and competence, and allows the individual to feel valued, and trust, grow,
develop, and value others.

Virtue ethics is a broad term for theories that emphasize the role of character and virtue in
moral philosophy rather than either doing one's duty or acting in order to bring about good
consequences.
Virtue ethics, by contrast, focuses on the development of the character of the individual who
must confront ethical dilemmas. Virtue ethics recognizes that resolution of difficult problems
depends, above all, rather than rules about the acts themselves deontology or their
consequences or Consequentialism on the character of the people making decisions.

2.In a profession, values are standards for action that are preferred by experts and professional
groups and establish frameworks for evaluating behaviour. Nursing is a profession rooted in
professional ethics and ethical values, and nursing performance is based on such values. Core
values of nursing include altruism, autonomy, human dignity, integrity, honesty and social
justice.

Altruism is concern for the welfare and wellbeing of others. In professional practice, altruism is
reflected by the nurse’s concern and advocacy for the welfare of patients, other nurses, and healthcare
providers.

Autonomy is the right to self-determination. Professional practice reflects autonomy when the
nurse respects patients’ rights to make decisions about their health care.
 Human Dignity is respect for the inherent worth and uniqueness of individuals and populations.
In professional practice, concern for human dignity is reflected when the nurse values and
respects all patients and colleagues.

Integrity is acting in accordance with an appropriate code of ethics and accepted standards of
practice. Integrity is reflected in professional practice when the nurse is honest and provides
care based on an ethical framework that is accepted within the profession.

Social Justice is acting in accordance with fair treatment regardless of economic status, race,
ethnicity, age, citizenship, disability, or sexual orientation.

1. A virtue ethics for nursing is therefore concerned with the character of individual nurses and
seeks ways to enable nurses to develop character traits appropriate for actions that enhance
wellbeing.

1. Virtue ethics differs from both deontology and consequentialism as it focuses on being over
doing. A virtue ethicist identifies virtues, desirable characteristics that the moral or virtuous
person embodies.
Virtue ethics asks what kind of person one should be in order to get it right all the time.

Whereas deontology and consequentialism are based on rules that try to give us the right
action, virtue ethics makes central use of the concept of character.
This is not to say that only virtue ethicists attend to virtues, any more than it is to say that only
consequentialists attend to consequences or only deontologists to rules. Each of the above-
mentioned approaches can make room for virtues, consequences, and rules. Indeed, any
plausible normative ethical theory will have something to say about all three. What
distinguishes virtue ethics from consequentialism or deontology is the centrality of virtue within
the theory (Watson 1990; Kawall 2009). Whereas consequentialists will define virtues as traits
that yield good consequences and deontologists will define them as traits possessed by those
who reliably fulfil their duties, virtue ethicists will resist the attempt to define virtues in terms of
some other concept that is taken to be more fundamental. Rather, virtues and vices will be
foundational for virtue ethical theories and other normative notions will be grounded in them.

It is the quest to understand and live a life of moral character.

 This character-based approach to morality assumes that we acquire virtue through practice. By
practicing being honest, brave, just, generous, and so on, a person develops an honorable and
moral character. According to Aristotle, by honing virtuous habits, people will likely make the
right choice when faced with ethical challenges.

It is the quest to understand and live a life of moral character.

This character-based approach to morality assumes that we acquire virtue through practice. By
practicing being honest, brave, just, generous, and so on, a person develops an honorable and
moral character. According to Aristotle, by honing virtuous habits, people will likely make the
right choice when faced with ethical challenges.

1. Virtue ethics is an approach that focuses on character with the assumption that a person of
good character will tend to behave in ways that are consistent with their character. A virtue
ethics for nursing is therefore concerned with the character of individual nurses and seeks
ways to enable nurses to develop character traits appropriate for actions that enhance
wellbeing.
The ethical principles that nurses must adhere to are the principles of justice, beneficence,
non-maleficence, accountability, fidelity, autonomy, and veracity. Justice is fairness. Nurses
must be fair when they distribute care, for example, among the patients in the group of
patients that they are taking care of.
Virtue ethics is a normative theory of ethics. The main focus of virtue ethics is to define the
nature and types of virtues and to make humans virtuous beings. It deals with questions like
-what is virtue, what are the different types of virtue, how to acquire virtue, virtue is inborn
or can be acquired.

A right act is the action a virtuous person would do in the same circumstances.

1. Virtue ethics is currently one of three major approaches in normative ethics. It may, initially, be
identified as the one that emphasizes the virtues, or moral character, in contrast to the
approach that emphasizes duties or rules (deontology) or that emphasizes the consequences of
actions (consequentialism).
Virtue ethics differs from both deontology and consequentialism as it focuses on being over doing. A
virtue ethicist identifies virtues, desirable characteristics, that the moral or virtuous person embodies.

1. Virtue ethics is person rather than action based it looks at the virtue or moral character of the
person carrying out an action, rather than at ethical duties and rules, or the consequences of
particular actions. Virtue ethics not only deals with the rightness or wrongness of individual
actions, it provides guidance as to the sort of characteristics and behaviours a good person will
seek to achieve. In that way, virtue ethics is concerned with the whole of a person's life, rather
than particular episodes or actions.
Significance of the ethical theories is a system of ideas intended to explain something, concepts
devised to explain a group of facts or phenomena. Ethical theories try to explain the ethical
actions and dilemmas in various situation because no theory in and of itself can provide the
correct answer to any single ethical conflict. Ethical theories can be used as a way to analyse
ethical problems. Ethics play a major role in the practice of nursing profession.
Theoretical ethics or ethical theory is the systematic effort to understand moral concepts and
justify moral principles and theories.