The fifth edition of this highly popular text offers a lucid and readable account of ethical issues affecting nurses and other health care practitioners, which will be of value throughout their careers. Nursing ethics offers a highly practical approach with a direct focus on ethical issues that might be encountered by health practitioners in training, in practice and in management. It is also interactive and case-based, encouraging readers to reflect on their current and future areas of practice. The concluding chapters discuss the role of moral theory and give practical models for ethical decision-making. The authors have developed a holistic approach that explores: ethics in hospital and community settings, inter-disciplinary teamwork, ward and hospital management, nursing research, performance management and the political ethics of nursing administration, health service re-structuring and reform. The content has been substantially revised for this edition and significant new material added to reflect developments in theory and practice. covers a wide range of ethical issues - much more than just 'clinical' dilemmas and decision-making skills a down-to-earth and practical approach to applied ethics user-friendly layout material on moral theory kept to a minimum (but dealt with thoroughly at the end of the book) focuses on ethical issues in nursing and case studies taken from nursing practice i.e. the concrete concerns of nurses and other front-line workers pedagogical features include: chapter aims, learning outcomes and further reading for possible essay, tutorial and project topics also useful as a general work of reference on ethic in health care An up-to-date analysis of professions in the context of modernity, to enable health professionals to make sense of global cultural & social developments An analysis of the ethics of evidence-based practice An examination of professional accountability and ethics in performance management to help practitioners/managers understand the ethical basis of management useful web links and teaching notes on a dedicated website: http://evolve.elsevier.com/Thompson/nursingethics/