History and Development of Nursing Ethics

This tab is intended to reflect the history and development of nursing ethics in individual countries as well as in the ICN. We hope, here, to provide bibliographic resources and websites/URLs to access historical digital documents and books, and provide citations for print resources, both for the US and internationally. These resources are intended for international researchers and educators in nursing ethics. There are resources under several tabs (this one, as well as the Ethical Theories and Philosophical Foundations of Nursing Ethics tabs) for those seeking basic information on nursing ethics.

Bibliographic Resources on Nursing Ethics

  • Fowler, Marsha D. “Nursing’s Code of Ethics, Social Ethics, and Social Policy,” Nurses at the Table: Nursing, Ethics, and Health Policy, special report, Hastings Center Report 46, no. 5 (Sept-Oct, 2016).  DOI: 10.1002/hast.624
  • Fowler, Marsha.  “Why the History of Nursing Ethics Matters,” Nursing Ethics, 2017, 24(3), 292-304.  DOI: 10.1177/0969733016684581.
  • Fowler, Marsha D.  “The Influence of the Social Location of Nurses-as-Women on the Development of Nursing Ethics,” in Kohlen, Helen and McCarthy, Joan (eds.) Nursing  Ethics: Feminist Perspectives. Springer, 2020. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-49104-8_1
  • Fowler, Marsha D., “Toward Reclaiming Our Ethical Heritage: Nursing Ethics before Bioethics” OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing. May 31, 2020, Vol. 25, No. 2, Manuscript 4. DOI: 10.3912/OJIN.Vol25No02Man04
  • Fowler, Marsha. “The Nightingale Still Sings: Ten Ethical Themes in Early Nursing in the United Kingdom, 1888-1989.  OJIN, May 2021. DOI: 10.3912/OJIN.Vol26No02PPT72
  • Fowler, Marsha.  “Remembering the Future,” in Routledge Handbook of Philosophy and Nursing, ed. Martin Lipscomb. (London: Routledge, 2024), 75-85.
  • Fowler, Marsha. Nursing Ethics, 1880s to the Present: An Archeology of Lost Wisdom and Identity. London: Routledge, April 2024. 
  • Lamb, Marianne.  Nursing ethics in Canada: Two Decades, 1981. https://doi.org/10.7939/R37S7J29G (Available as free download on Internet Archive — register for free to download)

Links to Nursing Ethics Resources

Digitized Early Nursing Ethics Textbooks

Digitized Early Nursing Journals

  • The American Journal of Nursing (1900, AJN). Available for free, 1900–1930, through JSTOR. Also available through public libraries. Hathi Trust makes volumes 1-29 (1900-1929) available, free, online, read only.
  • The Canadian Nurse (1905 to present) digital archive (free access): https://www.canadian-nurse.com/dev-cn-en/archive/2010-2019
  • Royal College of Nursing, Archives, London. In-person access to digital resources.

Early Organizational Reports and Committee Minutes, digital access (free)

Archives for On-Site Research on Nursing Ethics

NOTE: In-person archival access often requires permission, a scholarly goal, and advance notice or your arrival and archival needs.

Recommended Works: the Social Context of the Rise of Modern Nursing and its Ethics, 1860s to 1920s

American nurses marching to support women’s suffrage near the U.S. Capitol.
Photo by 1913 Mar. 3. [Washington, D.C.] : lGeorge Grantham Bain], [3 March 1913]

Women’s Suffrage

  • Josephine Elizabeth Grey Butler, Personal Reminiscences of a Great Crusade (London: Horace Marshall & Son, 1896).
  • more to follow

The Progressive ERA

  • Wald, Lillian. The House on Henry Street. NY: Henry Holt and Company, 1924. Available as free pdf download on Google Books
  • More to follow
Jane Addams and Lillian Wald with press correspondents, 1916.

The Philosophy of Pragmatism

The Social Ethics Movement (US)

  • Gary Dorrien. Social Ethics in the Making: Interpretating an American Tradition. Chischester, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons Publishing/Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2011.
  • See Ethical Theories tab under the subheading Social Ethics

Early Nursing Ethics Textbooks, 1900-1965 listed chronologically by 1st edition

This list includes nursing ethics books i.e., books on ethics by nurses for nurses.  It also includes those books termed ethics in nursing that are written by non-nurses for nurses.  The full list includes both nursing ethics and ethics in nursing books, and includes a few clinical textbooks (“medical-surgical textbooks”) that contain a first chapter devoted to ethics.  A couple of the works are booklets, and two are physician lectures to nurses on ethics. Before the use of bibliographic citations became standard, there are allusions in the early ethics literature of works prior to 1900, though those works remain to be identified.  This is a working list in the hope that additional works will be found by future scholars in nursing ethics.  Certainly, there are additional “first chapters” that remain to be incorporated into this list. This list was derived from my dissertation research. Marsha Fowler

NOTE: The credentials of authors below have been designated for the reader’s information. Note that nurse-authors have been designated RN, even where their career predates the actual existence of registration or of the legal designation RN.

ANOTHER NOTE: When nursing curricula combined smaller content ares into a single course, the textbooks customarily consisted of two volumes titled Professional Adjustments I and Professional Adjustments II. Professional Adjustments I was always the ethics textbook.

  • HCC [Harriet C. Camp]. “ The Ethics of Nursing: Talks of a Superintendent with Her Graduating Class,” part 1 [of 6], The Trained Nurse. Vol. II, no. 5, May 1889, 179-183.
  • Camp, Harriet C. [RN]. Making Good on Private Duty: Practical Hints to Graduate Nurses.  Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1889.  Reprinted 1912 under Harriet Camp Lounsbery. (Also known as: The Nurse’s Calling: Practical Hints to Graduate Nurses). First chapter.
  • Lewis, Percy C. [MD]. The Theory and Practice of Nursing: A Text-Book for Nurses. London: Scientific Press, 1893. (First chapter).
  • Fox, E. Margaret. [SRN] First Lines in Nursing.  London: Scientific Press, 1914. (First chapter).
  • Robb, Isabel Adams Hampton. [RN} Nursing Ethics: For Hospital and Private Use.  New York: E.C. Koeckert, 1900. Reprinted without revision in 1912, 1916, 1920.
  • Maxwell, Anna Caroline and Pope, Amy Elizabeth. Practical Nursing: A Text-Book for Nurses. New York: GP Putnam’s sons, 1907. (First chapter).
  • Dock, Lavinia Lloyd [RN]. Hygiene and Morality. 1910.
  • Goodnow, Minnie. First Year Nursing: A Text-book for Pupils in their First Year of Hospital Work. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders, 1912. (First chapter)
  • Aikens, Charlotte Albina. Studies in Ethics for Nurses. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders, 1916. Reprinted annually 1916 – 1922; 2nd ed. 1923; rev. 1928, 1931; 3rd ed. 1935; 4th ed. 1937; 5th ed. 1943.
  • Parsons, Sara E. [RN]. Nursing Problems and Obligations. Boston: Whitcomb and Barrows, 1916. Also, 1919, 1922.
  • Kirkpatrick, Thomas Percy Claude. Nursing Ethics: A Lecture. Dublin, Eire: The University Press, 1917. (Irish).
  • Harding, Gertrude [RN]. Higher Aspects of Nursing. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders, 1919.
  • Spalding, Henry Stanislaus [The Rev.; SJ]. Talks to Nurses: The Ethics of Nursing. New York: Benziger Brothers, 1920. 
  • Bourke, M.P. [The Rev., AM, LL.B.]. Some Medical and Ethical Problems Solved.  Milwaukee, WI: the Bruce Publishing Co, 1921. 1937. (Pamphlet).
  • Finney, Patrick A. Moral Problems in Hospital Practice. St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co. 1922.
  • Harmer, Bertha [RN]. Text-Book of the Principles and Practice of Nursing. NY: Macmillan, 1922. (First chapter).
  • Murphy, Richard J. [The Rev.]. The Catholic Nurse: Her Spirit and Her Duties.  Milwaukee: Bruce, 1923.  
  • Brogan, James M. [The Rev.; SJ]. Ethical Principles for the Character of a Nurse.  Milwaukee: Bruce, 1924. 
  • Talley, Charlotte. [RN]. Ethics: A Textbook for Nurses. New York: Putnam’s, 1925; 2nd ed.  1928.
  • Chaptal de Chanteloup, Léonie [RN; 1873-1937]. Morale Professionnelle de l’infirmière. Paris: A. Poinat, 1926. And 1932.
  • Garesché, Edward Francis [The Rev.; SJ]. A Vade Mecum for Nurses and Social Workers. Milwaukee: Bruce, 1926.
  • Talley, Charlotte E. [RN]. Lesson Plans in Ethics for Nurses. New York: G.P. Putnam’s, 1927.
  • Garesché, Edward Francis [The Rev.; SJ].  Couriers of Mercy: Friendly Talks to Nurses.  Milwaukee, WI: Bruce, 1928.
  • Garesché, Edward Francis [The Rev.; SJ].  Ethics and the Art of Conduct for Nurses.  Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders, 1929. Also 1944; 358 pages.
  • Edgell, Beatrice [PhD; Psychologist, Philosopher]. Ethical Problems: An Introduction to Ethics for Hospital Nurses and Social Workers. London: Methuen and Company, 1929.
  • Russell, Frederick J. Ethics in General and Special. For Schools of Nursing. Emmitsburg, MD: Sisters of Charity, 1929. 
  • Gladwin, Mary Elizabeth. Ethics: Talks to Nurses. Philadelphia: F.A. Davis, 1st ed. 1930. 
  • Gladwin, Mary Elizabeth. Ethics: A Textbook for Nurses.  Philadelphia: F.A. Davis, 2nd ed. 1937; 3rd ed. 1938.
  • Jamieson, Elizabeth Marion [BA, RN] and Sewell, Elizabeth. Ethics Notebook for Nurses. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1931. 22 pages. Also 1933, 1935, 1940, 1944.
  • Gabriel (Ryan), Sr. John [AB, RN]. Professional Problems: A Textbook for Nurses.  Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders, 1932. 
  • Goodrich, Annie Warburton [RN; 1866–1954]. The Social and Ethical Significance of Nursing: A Series of Addresses. New York: Macmillan, 1932. 
  • Harrison, Gene [AB, RN]. Ethics in Nursing. St. Louis: C.V. Mosby, 1932. 
  • Génin, L. Aux [The Rev.]. Précis de Morale Professionnelle: Aux Infirmières. Paris: L’Institut des Franciscaines Missionnaires de Marie, 1934. Also 1944.
  • Dietz, Lena Dixon [RN]. Professional Problems in Nursing. Philadelphia: F.A. Davis, 1935.
  • Moore, Thomas Verner [The Rev.; PhD; 1877-1969]. Principles of Ethics. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1935. Also 1937, 1939, 1943.
  • Vaughan, Sr. Rose Hélène [MA, RN]. The Actual Incidence of Moral Problems in Nursing: A Preliminary Study in Empirical Ethics. Washington, DC: Catholic University Press, 1935. Master’s Dissertation.
  • Evarts, Arrah B. [MD]. Ethics of Nursing. Minneapolis, MN: Burgess, 1935. Lecture.
  • Rothweiler, Ella L. [MA, RN]. Davis’ Cumulative Continued Study Units on Ethics.  Philadelphia: F.A. Davis, 1938.
  • De Jésus-Christ, Catherine [Mother; b. 1869]. At the Bedside of the Sick: Precepts and Counsels for Hospital Nurses. E.F. Peeler, trans. [Au Chevet de la Souffrance]. London: Burns, Oats & Washbourne, 1938. 
  • Spaulding, Eugenia K. [RN]. Professional Adjustments in Nursing, Being Professional Adjustments I. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1939. 
  • Dietz, Lena Dixon [RN; 1890-1964]. Professional Adjustments, I. Philadelphia: F.A. Davis, 1940. 
  • La Rochelle, Stanislaus A., Fink, C.T. Precis der morale medicale pour infumieres, medicins, et pretres. Quebec: L’Action cathololique. Poupore, M.E., Trans.: Handbook of Medical Ethics for Nurses, Physicians, and Priests. Newman Book Shop, 1940. 1948. (Canadian). 
  • Spaulding, Eugenia Kennedy [AM, DHL, RN]. Professional Adjustments in Nursing for Senior Students and Graduates. Philadelphia: JB Lippincott, 1941. 2nd ed. 1942; 3rd ed. 1946. (Went to eight editions then was taken over by Lucille Notter.)
  • Goodall, Phyllis A. [RN]. Ethics: The Inner Realities.  Philadelphia: F.A. Davis, 1942.  Also 1943. 
  • Hansen, Helen F. [MA, RN]. Professional Relationships of the Nurse. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders, 1942. 2nded. 1948.
  • Healy, Edwin [The Rev.; SJ]. Moral Guidance: A Textbook in Principles of Conduct for Colleges and Universities. Chicago: Lloyola University Presss, 1943. With chapter XVII specific to nursing.
  • Harrison, Gene [AB, RN]. Professional Adjustments, I. St. Louis: C.V. Mosby, 1941.  
  • Densford, Katherine Jane [MA, RN, DSc] and Everett, Millard S. [PhD]. Ethics for Modern Nurses: Professional Adjustments, I. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders, 1946.  
  • Lennon, Sister Mary Isidore [RSM, BS, MA, RN]. Professional Adjustments. St. Louis: C.V. Mosby, 1946. 
  • Connell, Francis J. [The Rev.; SSR]. Morals in Politics and Professions: A Guide for Catholics in Public Life.Westminster, MD: Newman Bookshop, 1946. Chapter XI specific to nursing.
  • Rumble, L. [The Rev. Dr.] and Charles M. Carty. Quizzes on Hospital Ethics for Nurses, Doctors, Priests, and Sisters. 1946. (Booklet).
  • McFadden, Charles J. [The Rev., PhD]. Medical Ethics for Nurses. Philadelphia: F.A. Davis, 1946. Also 1949.
  • Price, Alice Louise. [RN]. Professional Adjustments, I. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders, 1946. 
  • Johnson, Brian D. [MD]. The Catholic Nurse. London: Burns Oats & Washbourne, 1950. 
  • McAllister, Joseph Bernard [The Rev. Monsignor; SS]. Ethics with Special Application to Medical and Nursing Professions. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders, 1948. 2nd ed. 1955.
  • Gounley, Martin E. Digest of Ethics for Nurses. Paterson: St. Anthony Guild, 1949.
  • Spaulding, Eugenia Kennedy [AM, DHL, RN]. Professional Nursing. Trends and Adjustments. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1950. 
  • Kempf, Florence C. [BS, MA, RN]. The Person as a Nurse: Professional Adjustments. NY: Macmillan, 1950. Also 1953. 2nd ed., 1957. 
  • Pearce, Evelyn C. [SRN, RFN, SCM, MCSP, Teacher’s Cert.]. The Nurse and the Patient: An Ethical Consideration of Human Relations. London: Farber and Farber, 1953. (UK).
  • Hayes, Edward J. [The Rev.] et al. Moral Handbook of Nursing: A Compendium of Principles, Spiritual Aids, and Concise Answers Regarding Catholic Personnel, Patients and Problems. NY: Macmillan, 1956. 
  • Southard, Samuel [The Rev.]. Religion and Nursing. Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1959.  
  • Sanner, Margaret Clementine. Trends and professional adjustments in nursing. WB Saunders, 1962. 
  • Way, Hillary [RN]. Ethics for Nurses. London: Macmillan, 1962. (UK: reprinted from Nursing Times)
  • Plachata, Sr. Mary Miranda [CSSF, RN]. Spiritualize Your Nursing. No place: Felician Sisters, 1963.
  • Pelley, Thelma. [RN]. Nursing: Its History, Trends, Philosophy, Ethics and Ethos.  Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders, 1964. 
  • Hayes, Edward J [The Rev.], Hayes, Paul J. [The Rev.], and Kelly, Dorothy Ellen [RN]. Moral Principles of Nursing. NY: Macmillan, 1964. 
  • Pole, KFM. Handbook for the Catholic Nurse. London: Robert Hale, 1964. Leclerq, Jacques. The Apostolic Spirituality of the Nursing Sister. Staten Island, NY: Alba House, 1967. La Soeur Hospitalière. Tournai, Belgium, 1966. (For nuns in nursing orders).

Reclaiming and Advancing Our Professional Nursing Ethics Tradition for Today

  • Benner, Patricia. “Studying Expert Ethical Comportment and Preserving the Ethics of Care and Responsibility Embedded in Expert Nursing Practice,” Chapter 9, in Fowler, Marsha. Nursing Ethics, 1880s to the Present: An Archeology of Lost Wisdom and Identity. London: Routledge, April 2024. 
  • Benner, Patricia. “Overcoming Descartes’ Representational View of the Mind in Nursing Pedagogies, Curricula and Testing,” Journal of Nursing Philosophy 23, no. 4, Special Issue: The Role of Philosophy in the Nursing World (Oct. 2022).
  • Benner, Patricia., “The Roles of Embodiment, Emotion and Lifeworld in Nursing Practice,” Journal of Nursing Philosophy l, no. l (2000): 1–15.
  • Benner, Patricia and Judith Wrubel. The Primacy of Caring (Englewood Cliffs, NJ:Prentice‑Hall, 1989).
  • Benner, Patricia. “Finding the Good Behind the Right: A Dialogue between Nursing and Bioethics,” in F.G. Miller, J.C. Fletcher, J.M. Humber (eds.), The Nature and Prospect of Bioethics: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Totowa, NJ: Humana Press, 2003).
  • Benner, Patricia. “The Role of Experience, Narrative, and Community in Skilled Ethical Comportment,” Advances in Nursing Science, 14, no. 2 (1991): 1–23.
  • Ferkaney, Matthew & Newham, Roger. “2020, ”A comparison of approaches to virtue for nursing ethics’, Ethical Perspectives,vol. 26, no. 3, 2020. pp. 427-457. https://doi.org/10.2143/EP.26.3.3287341
  • Fowler, Marsha. “Toward Reclaiming Our Ethical Heritage: Nursing Ethics before Bioethics,” Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, (OJIN), May 2020. Open Access, free.
  • Fowler, Marsha.  “Social Ethics, the Profession, and Society,” in Davis, Anne, de Raeve, Louise, and Tschudin, Verena (eds)..Essentials of Teaching and Learning in Nursing Ethics: Perspectives and Methods. London:  Elsevier. 2006, pp.27-36.
  • Fowler, Marsha D. “Nursing’s Code of Ethics, Social Ethics, and Social Policy,” Nurses at the Table: Nursing, Ethics, and Health Policy, special report, Hastings Center Report 46, no. 5 (Sept-Oct, 2016).  DOI: 10.1002/hast.624
  • Fowler, Marsha D.  “The Influence of the Social Location of Nurses-as-Women on the Development of Nursing Ethics,” in Kohlen, Helen and McCarthy, Joan (eds.) Nursing  Ethics: Feminist Perspectives. Springer, 2020. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-49104-8_1
  • Fowler, Marsha. “The Nightingale Still Sings: Ten Ethical Themes in Early Nursing in the United Kingdom, 1888-1989.  OJIN, May 2021. DOI: 10.3912/OJIN.Vol26No02PPT72
  • Fowler, Marsha.  “Remembering the Future,” in Routledge Handbook of Philosophy and Nursing, ed. Martin Lipscomb. (London: Routledge, 2024), 75-85.
  • Fowler, Marsha. “Bioethics: A Tale of Unrequited Love and an Amicable Divorce,” OJIN. Pending Publication. 2026.
  • Grace, Pamela. “An Argument for the Distinct Nature of Nursing Ethics,” in Deem, Michael and Jennifer Lingler, eds.  Nursing Ethics: Normative Foundations, Advanced Concepts, and Emerging Issues. 2024. Oxford University Press, 2024. 
  • Grace, Pamela. “Contrasting Relativism, Absolutism and Pragmatism for Utility in Healthcare Ethics. Revisiting Drummond’s Article on Relativism,” Nursing Philosophy. 2025; 26:e70041 https://doi.org/10.1111/nup.70041
  • Grace, Pamela. “Nursing Ethics Education: Enhancing Moral Agency for Individual and Social Good,” in Jacobs, Richard M. Ed. Educating in Ethics Across the Professions: A Compendium of Research, Theory, Practice, and an Agenda for the Future. Information Age Publishing, 2023.
  • Grace, Pamela. “Philosophies, Models, and Theories: Moral Obligations,” in Alligood, Martha R. Nursing Theory: Utilization and Application. 5th ed. Mosby. 2014.
  • Grace, Pamela and Willow, Danny. “Nursing responsibilities and social justice: An analysis in support of disciplinary goals,” Nursing Outlook. 60 (2012) 198-207.
  • Martinsen, Kari. Care and Vulnerability, trans. Linn Elise Kjerlan (Oslo: Akribe Publishers, 2006).
  • Robichaux, Catherine Grace, Pamela, Bartlett, Jennifer Bartlett, Stokes, Felicia, Lewis, Mileva Saulo Lewis, and Turner, Martha. “Ethics Education for Nurses: Foundations for an Integrated Curriculum,” Journal of Nursing Education. Vol. 61, No. 3, 2022
  • Starzomski, Rosalie, Storch, Janet L., Rodney, Patricia, Clark, Nancy. “Nursing Ethics: Developing a Moral Compass for Leadership,” Chapter 1 in Starzomski, Rosalie, Storch, Janet L., and Rodney, Patricia. Toward a Moral Horizon: Nursing Ethics for Leadership and Practice. 3rd ed. This book is generously offered as free, open access.
  • Sullivan, W. and M.S. Rosin, A New Agenda for Higher Education, Shaping the Mind for Practice (Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and San Francisco: Jossey‑Bass, 2008).
  • Willis, Danny, Grace, Pamela, and Roy, Calista. “A Central Unifying Focus for the Discipline Facilitating Humanization, Meaning, Choice, Quality of Life, and Healing in Living and Dying,” Advances in Nursing Science. Vol. 31, No. 1, pp. E28–E40
  • Windt, Peter Y. et al., eds., Ethical Issues in the Professions (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1989)
  • more to come…