The Ethical Nurse by Mary Ann Siciliano McLaughlin Ed.D, MSN, RN, ANEF

"Part of professionalism is accountability, accountability to your actions and the outcomes of those actions." (Mary Ann Siciliano McLaughlin, 2018)      I always speak to my nursing students about accountability while imparting my tagline.  I tell them that everyone, as a nurse, has a choice in the actions they take. I warn them that they need to be accountable to those actions and the outcomes of those actions.  They cannot say if something does not go well, as a result of their actions, "oh well, I'll do better next time". Rather, they have to see the outcome and decide the next best course of action.  So, if something they did, results in an outcome they did not expect, or an outcome that is harmful to the patient then they need to decide what action needs to be taken next to either resolve the issue or monitor the situation to minimize patient harm. I do tell my students, as nurses, the intention is never to harm patients. Rather, situations change or ...

Attached you will find a brief recording I made regarding my model of ethics, The Siciliano-McLaughlin Model of Ethics . Enjoy and feel free to comment on my post.  The Five Essential Themes of My Model: 1. The Nurse Serving as a Patient Advocate 2. The Nurse Promoting a Dignified Death for a Patient 3. The Nurse Fostering the Humane Side to Patient Care 4. The Nurse Encouraging Virtuous Integrity 5. The Nurse Actualizing Authentic Leadership.  You tube video: The Siciliano-McLaughlin Model of Ethics

I am very excited to present a guest blog written by a dear colleague. Today's guest blog author is  Dr. Darci McCall . We met through, our involvement with, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). We bonded early on through our love of ethics and nursing education.  BIO for  Darci McCall, PhD, RNC-OB, C-EFM, CNE Darci McCall, PhD, RNC-OB, C-EFM, CNE, is a Clinical Professor of Nursing at Boise State University in Boise, Idaho. She has taught in both prelicensure and RN-BS programs, drawing on experience from the classroom, clinical practice, simulation, and online learning. In her current role, she teaches courses on leadership, healthcare technology, and vulnerable populations. Her interests include the ethical and thoughtful use of artificial intelligence in nursing education and supporting meaningful learning that fosters both personal and professional growth. Teaching for the Future: The Ethical Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Nursing Education...

When I was a junior faculty member, I often wondered what caused some nursing students to act ethically, while others participated in breaches in integrity.  Breaches in integrity, in nursing students, or any students for that matter, can include, for example, cheating on exams, or cheating on assignments by plagiarizing their work. Furthermore, I worried that these breeches in integrity during schooling would lead to breaches in their nursing practice once they graduated and began their professional careers.  My dissertation,   The Experience of Accelerated Nursing Program Graduates Utilizing Ethics in Their Nursing Practice , addresses these concerns.  McLaughlin, M. A. S. (2016).  The experience of accelerated nursing program graduates utilizing ethics  in their nursing practice  (Publication No. 10195870) [Doctoral dissertation, Columbia University]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global.    Abstract:  This study, based on hermene...

"Provision 2: A nurse's primary commitment is to the recipient(s) of nursing care, whether an individual, family, group, community, or population" (ANA, 2025, p. 5).  ANA Code of Ethics for Nurses According to the 2025 edition of the Code of Ethics for Nurses, this provision includes four areas: a primary commitment to recipients of nursing care; conflicts of interest and conflicts of commitment in nursing; professional boundaries; and issues of safety in the nurse-patient relationship (pp. 5-7). My dissertation,  The experience of accelerated nursing program graduates utilizing ethics in their nursing practice   Reading through this provision made me think of an example from my doctoral research. As written in my dissertation (McLaughlin, 2016) on pages 62-63:   Catherine mentioned breaches in integrity such as students cheating in her accelerated program to achieve good grades, and a clinical faculty member breaking technique.  This faculty member broke s...

Ethical Infractions  So as educators in university settings, we have been bogged down with all sorts of end of semester grading. This grading may include, but is not limited to, grading of discussion boards, papers, and projects; and administering final examinations. While it is great to witness growth in our students over the course of the semester, it is sometimes fraught with breaches in integrity. Students, especially students that are worried about passing on to the next semester, will commit infractions just to be able to survive in their nursing program. This is not a problem unique to one school or one group of students. Rather, it has prevalence across schools, programs, and students.  The Siciliano-McLaughlin Model of Ethics This leads me back to my model of ethics, The Siciliano-McLaughlin Model of Ethics . Every time I teach about ethics and the use of my model, I challenge the students to look at the model and choose an area of concentration. In the case of ethica...

I am very excited to present my first guest blog written by a dear colleague. Today's guest blog author is Dr. Lynn Stover Nichols . We met quite a few years ago through, our involvement with, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Faculty Leadership Network (FLN). We bonded early on through our love of ethics and nursing education.  BIO for Dr. Lynn Stover Nichols PhD, RN, PED-BC, SANE, ANEF Dr. Lynn Stover Nichols PhD, RN, PED-BC, SANE, ANEF, is an Associate Professor of Nursing at Boise State University in Boise, Idaho. Her nursing education experience spans several decades and includes both undergraduate and graduate programs. She implemented the  Ethics Café  program for two years at the University of Alabama at Birmingham as an Honors College Faculty Fellow, where she taught a Freshman Honors Seminar, Ethical Issues in Women’s Health. The Case for Ethics in Nursing Education The nature of the work of the registered nurse provides limitless opport...

 ANA Code of Ethics for Nurses 2025  Provision 1: The nurse practices with compassion and respect for the inherent dignity, worth, and unique attributes of every person.  The post today will focus on the  inherent dignity of patients. This idea of dignity came through loud and clear in the stories told to me by nurses while completing phenomenological interviews for my dissertation research. The nurses I interviewed spoke about treating patients with dignity, especially in the face of death. (Please refer to my ethics model below the post.)  One story that stuck out to me was from a nurse that stayed in the room talking with a patient while working night shift.  This patient had cancer and was out of all viable treatment options. The only choice now was to be a part of a new drug trial.  The patient did not want to do the trial, but his wife and daughter wanted him to, as his daughter was scheduled to get married the following year. They so desperatel...

ANA Code of Ethics for Nurses 2025  Provision 1: The nurse practices with compassion and respect for the inherent dignity, worth, and unique attributes of every person.  1.1 Respect for Human Dignity  This part of Provision 1 views human dignity as a fundamental principle which underlies all nursing practice.  All patients deserve dignity and respect. "The nurse is additionally committed to creating and sustaining an ethical environment where the nurse-patient relationship can flourish" (ANA, 2025, p.1).  So much of what we do as nurses is to support our patients in this environment where patients are capable of flourishing or growing. As nurses, we are taught to respect everyone regardless of their background, gender, race, socioeconomic class, political affiliation etc. The ANA also speaks about allyship in this Provision.                       Allyship is an ethical duty that requires inten...

I would like to use this platform to review the American Nurses Association (ANA) new Code of Ethics for Nurses , "the Code " (2025). The background here is that I attended the 2015 ANA Ethics Symposium, where the ANA dubbed 2015 as the Year of Ethics . Attending that conference was pivotal for me.  Up to that point, in my dissertation, I was struggling with how to approach my literature review and study. That conference gave me great clarity and inspiration.  I worked through that conference, and continued to work once arriving home, on my dissertation topic of ethics in nursing. Now ten years later, I am excited to say that I just received my 2025 updated Code  in the mail.   My plan is to review the updated Code in sections over time. I also intend to draw parallels between the Code and my ethics model, The Siciliano-McLaughlin Model of Ethics .    The ANA states, "The Code of Ethics for Nurses (Code) establishes the ethical standard for the profes...

     Last week, when discussing ethics with prelicensure students, I had my ethics model posted.  As always, I spoke to the themes of my study and its representation in my model.  I also reviewed some ethical situations that the participants in my study discussed with me. As we spoke about each situation, we examined it through the lens of the themes. A student asked me more about the central framework of authenticity. Today, I want to think about authenticity in response to our discussion about the central framework.  The literature says that an authentic existence consists of three characteristics. The person needs to be fully aware of the present moment. The person lives in the moment by choosing how to live one’s life. The person needs to take responsibility for the choice (Corey, 1982).       These concepts lead back to, and support, Dewey’s (1909/2008) work regarding intellectual development leading to a sense of good judgment....

Hello everyone, Much has changed in the life over the last year, but one thing has remained constant - the need for professionalism and ethics in nursing remains a need and priority in our profession.   Even though my ethics in nursing dissertation study happened about ten years ago, the same concerns and worries still exist today.  Yesterday, as I sat in a meeting, those in attendance worried about ethical infractions by prelicensure students and wondered if it would be a precursor to unethical behavior in nursing practice.  That very premise was the impetus to my study.  Information about my hermeneutic phenomenological study: Title: The Experience of Accelerated Nursing Program Graduates Utilizing Ethics in Their Nursing Practice. Year of publication in ProQuest: 2016.  Purpose of the Study:  This study aimed to illuminate the meaning of the experience of accelerated nursing program graduates utilizing ethics in their nursing practice.  Rese...

A Blog Refresh: I have been in a holding pattern in my blog for some time.  However, I would like to reinstate my blog on ethics in nursing.  To begin again, I am posting my first post to set the stage for things to come.  Enjoy! Every time we hold a person responsible for what he has done, we acknowledge in effect that a deed which can be judged morally has an intimate and internal connection with the character of the one from whom the deed issued. - John Dewey, 1932/2009, p. 342  In  The Moral Self , Dewey (1932/2009)  stated: “ Selfhood or character is not a mere means, an external instrument, of attaining certain ends. . . . It is an agency of accomplishing consequences. . . . The self reveals its nature in what it chooses ” (p. 342) . This thought process is applicable to nurses as well. If, as Dewey postulates, ethics is  part of a person’s character  and therefore a part of one self, perhaps nurses can draw upon  these inherent factors...

My new article with two of my colleagues has just been published to the New Jersey Nurse & Institute for Nursing Newsletter, July 2020.  Happy reading! Teaching Nursing Students During COVID-19 Mary Ann Siciliano McLaughlin EdD, MSN, RN, Tyshaneka Saffold PhD(c), MSN, RN, & Shelley A. Johnson, EdD, MSN, MBA, RN, NE-BC, CNE   In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the landscape of nursing education is changing and evolving on a daily basis. On-ground nursing programs have been converted into an online format overnight. This change is a tall order, not just for nursing faculty, but for nursing students as well. So how, in this time of a pandemic, do nursing faculty promote ethics and integrity in students, while maintaining quality, and rigor in nursing programs to ensure student learning and adequate preparation for a future career in nursing?   Ethics is valu...