TURKISH JOURNAL OF ONCOLOGY 2009 , Vol 24 , Num 4
Ethics in oncology nursing
Nermin ERSOY
Kocaeli Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Tıp Tarihi ve Etik Anabilim Dalı, Kocaeli In the process of cancer treatment and care, the ethical duties of the cancer nurses contribute to preventing ethical dilemmas, resolving ethical problems, and most importantly maintaining an ethical cancer care system. The ethical duties of humanistic caregiving, disclosure, honesty, relief of pain and suffering, fair distribution of resources, provision of adequate palliative care, and assistance to patients and families for imminent death, which are the hallmarks of oncology nursing, are justified by the values, professional standards and the contemporary roles of nursing. Therefore, ethical competency of the oncology nurse is an inevitable requirement. Keywords : Ethics values; ethics duties; nursing ethics; clinical ethics; oncology ethics; oncology nursing