Making the case for ethical decision-making models

Ethical decision making is an important aspect of nurse prescribing and, although the literature has provided ample guidance of the role of ethical theories, much less attention has been given to more practical guidance, such as ethical decision-making models. This article argues that such models are helpful resources and despite their considerable diversity, they may be summarized into key aspects relating to: identifying the problem and gathering facts, considering others in terms of their values and opinions, finding options and justifying one choice, and then implementing it. The article also provides a further resource relating to avoiding common mistakes in reasoning when making an ethical decision in prescribing.