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Ethics and Integrity in Nursing Research

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Handbook of Research Ethics and Scientific Integrity

Abstract

Most ethical issues that arise in the field of nursing tend to focus on human rights or direct client care issues, while the existing ethical frameworks and “nursing codes of ethics” put forth by leading nursing organizations tend to focus on increasing the ethical sensitivity or competence of nurses. Professional nursing, in its position as “art” and “science,” conducts cutting-edge research spanning a cornucopia of topics in the natural, social, formal, and applied sciences. However, the nature of nursing, which focuses on caring, preventing harm, protecting dignity, and advocacy roles in defense of patient rights, is sometimes at odds with the ethics of what can be considered more purely scientific research. This is primarily due to ambiguity or outright conflict with nursing standards (i.e., existing guidance frameworks or nursing ethics codes) and current research standards. This chapter will briefly explore the history of ethics development within the discipline of nursing. It will then explore the dichotomy between nursing and current research ethics via a comprehensive review and analysis of current relevant nursing literature. Identification of key ethical issues faced by nurse-researchers and how these issues were addressed can help to provide clarity and shed some light on the key issues identified in this chapter. In addition, it can help to formulate a framework that other nurse-researchers can use to maintain ethics and scientific integrity while investigating issues and proposing viable solutions to problems yet to be addressed in the field of nursing research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nursing and Allied Health Department, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA, USA

    Edie West

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  1. Edie West
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Correspondence to Edie West .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Chatelaillon Plage, France

    Ron Iphofen

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West, E. (2019). Ethics and Integrity in Nursing Research. In: Iphofen, R. (eds) Handbook of Research Ethics and Scientific Integrity. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76040-7_46-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76040-7_46-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-76040-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-76040-7

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