Philosophical Perspectives on Trustworthiness and Open-mindedness as Professional Virtues for the Practice of Nursing: Implications for he Moral Education of Nurses

superficially attractive, cannot function to develop phronesis precisely because it
neglects to account for moral agency. And moral agency is necessary if nurses are to be,
or are to become, autonomous and accountable practitioners. This idea of the nurse as
an autonomous and accountable practitioner is generally accepted as appropriate (NMC
2004b) although what this means for the education of nurses is largely neglected. As a
consequence, while the teaching of ethics has become an accepted requirement of nurse
education, the issue of the moral education of nurses is insufficiently emphasised. Yet
without a recognition of the moral nature of nurse education, those enduring character
dispositions that Everyman anticipates will be exhibited will not be perceived as part of
the province of nurse teachers and will thus remain neglected by those with the potential
to influence (in systematic ways and for the benefit of more-than-ordinarily vulnerable
persons) successive generations of nurses.

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