Robertson D W
University of Toronto Medical School, Canada.
J Med Ethics. 1996 Oct;22(5):292-9. doi: 10.1136/jme.22.5.292.
To study empirically whether ethical theory (from the mainstream principles-based, virtue-based, and feminist schools) usefully describes the approaches doctors and nurses take in everyday patient care.
Ethnographic methods: participant observation and interviews, the transcripts of which were analysed to identify themes in ethical approaches.
A British old-age psychiatry ward.
The more than 20 doctors and nurses on the ward.
Doctors and nurses on the ward differed in their conceptions of the principles of beneficence and respect for patient autonomy. Nurses shared with doctors a commitment to liberal and utilitarian conceptions of these principles, but also placed much greater weight on relationships and character virtues when expressing the same principles. Nurses also emphasised patient autonomy, while doctors were more likely to advocate beneficence, when the two principles conflicted.
The study indicates that ethical theory can, contrary to the charges of certain critics, be relevant to everyday health care-if it (a) attends to social context and (b) is flexible enough to draw on various schools of theory.
通过实证研究主流的基于原则、基于美德和女性主义流派的伦理理论是否能有效描述医生和护士在日常患者护理中的方法。
人种学方法：参与观察和访谈，对访谈记录进行分析以确定伦理方法中的主题。
英国一家老年精神病科病房。
该病房20多名医生和护士。
病房中的医生和护士在对行善原则和尊重患者自主权原则的理解上存在差异。护士与医生一样，都认同这些原则的自由主义和功利主义观念，但在表达相同原则时，他们更看重人际关系和性格美德。当这两个原则发生冲突时，护士更强调患者自主权，而医生更倾向于倡导行善。
该研究表明，与某些批评者的指责相反，伦理理论与日常医疗保健相关——前提是它（a）关注社会背景，（b）足够灵活，能够借鉴各种理论流派。
