| Monday, November 14, 2005: 10:30 AM-11:45 AM | |||
| Using an Ethical Framework to Examine Nurses' Practice | |||
| Learning Objective #1: Describe the theory of Symphonology as a framework for nurse-patient agreements | |||
| Learning Objective #2: Examine data from nursing research, nursing practice, and education using the Symphonology framework | |||
| Although rarely acknowledged in the context of everyday practice, nurses’ actions occur within the context of their agreements to provide care for patients. These agreements are ethical ones that carry responsibilities and obligations on all parties to the agreement. Symphonology is the bioethical theory that focuses on the nature of these agreements and bioethical standards nurses can use to consider their actions. It provides an organizing framework for research, practice, and education. Part one will be a discussion of the theory of Symphonology with emphasis on pragmatic applications in nursing practice that were derived from extensive, long-term consultation with health care providers. Part two will be three specific examples of doctoral research using the theory. Symphonology was the organizing framework in a small national survey of oncology nurses working with patients/families who were making health care choices. The second example focused on patients and examined whether using this theory made a difference in patients' decision making processes and their satisfaction during decision making. The third example examines both nurses' and patients' perceptions during the ethical decision making process. Part three will be a discussion by faculty members who are teaching the ethical theory of Symphonology. Two are using it with nursing students and one is using it in an ethics class taught within a philosophy department. The use of the theory to advance critical thinking skills, to examine one’s own roles regarding ethical dimensions, and to apply Symphonology within a broader context of both nursing and general philosophy education are described. Throughout the symposium, interaction will be encouraged. | |||
| Organizer: | Anne R. Bavier, PhD, RN, FAAN | ||
| Symphonology: A different approach to nursing ethics Gladys L. Husted, PhD, RN | |||
| Research results using symphonology Anne R. Bavier, PhD, RN, FAAN, Margaret Irwin, PhD, RN, Marge Hardt, PhD, RN | |||
| The teaching of ethics and the ethics of teaching: The symphonological approach Carrie Scotto, PhD, RN, Barbara Brown, PhD, RN, Anne Watson Bongiorno, PhD, RN | |||