Browsing by Author "Poules, Roy Jeffrey"

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    Who Acts? Self-Identity and Moral Courage in Nursing
    (2015-05-04) Poules, Roy Jeffrey; Raffin Bouchal, Shelley; Oberle, Kathleen; Estefan, Andrew
    Nurses who work in critical care face a unique array of ethical decisions in the course of their practice. This study aimed to examine the source of the ethical decision making of individual nurses using a virtue ethics framework as a starting point. The design used a philosophical hermeneutic approach based on the writing of Paul Ricoeur to provide an interpretation of the ethical decision making process of nurses. Six nurses currently practicing in intensive care were interviewed, with the transcripts of the interviews used as texts which were analyzed using the concepts of distanciation and appropriation taken from Ricoeur. The results revealed the main themes of time, experience, and communication, which were related to self-identity as the basis of ethical decision making