The UVAHS Professional Nursing Staff Organization

Ethical Practice and Resources

The care of patients can be clinically and ethically complex. UVAHS provides comprehensive services to support nurses and the interdisciplinary team in the application of ethical principles to manage challenging ethical situations.  

The ANA Code of Ethics for Nurses is the basis for the PNSO Values Statement, and an awareness of ethical practice considerations permeates other values and guiding principles.  

The focus of centralized ethics education occurs through the "Conversations in Clinical Ethics" programs. This is an ongoing series of hour-long conversations with direct care clinicians and ethics experts. Discussion topics are drawn from clinical experiences and are facilitated by School of Nursing faculty and Ethics Committee members. Additional educational ethics programs are contained in palliative care, behavior management, and cultural sensitivity programs.

The UVAHS Ethics Committee is an interdisciplinary committee charged with assisting leadership in ensuring consistency  between mission and values, organizational behaviors and clinical practice. The Ethics Committee oversees the Ethics Consult Service that provides information, education and/or consultation about ethical problems twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.  Often these inquiries reassure team members as to whether they are proceeding appropriately through complex and nuanced situations. Nurses are active in ethics education, policy review and the introduction of institutional initiatives. (See Medical Center Policy #263, Medical Center Code of Ethics and Ethics Committee.)

Patient advocacy is a major role for the nurse and a therapeutic nurse-patient relationship is possible only when trust is established. Nurses have an obligation to protect patients and the public; annual mandatory competency retraining assures that staff remain informed of resources and changes in reporting rules and regulations. A number of Medical Center Policies guide staff on important ethical issues such as corporate compliance, conflicts of interest, standards of performance and professional behavior, and reporting requirements.