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

everyday life and the exercise of virtue in the challenging world of nursing and health
care. There will be other occupations (or practices) for which the expression of virtue is
equally challenging and in this respect some similarities between nursing on the one
hand and, for example social work, teaching, and youth work on the other will be
apparent. But this thesis is focussed on the practice of nursing and hence any claims
made will not be generalised at this point.

Particular professional virtues

From what I have stated already it would seem that professional virtues are merely
extensions of everyday virtues, and in one sense this is precisely what is intended.
However such a view provides only part of the story for it is necessary to take account
of the fact that, like everyone else, nurses inhabit a modem and fragmented world. A
world in which we occupy multiple roles each of which may require us to exhibit
different sets of traits if we are to successfully negotiate our way in life. So, despite the
injunction of the NMC (2002a) that nurses must act at all times in ways consistent with
the tenets of the code of professional conduct, a nurse will also adopt different roles at
different times and, importantly, not all of these roles will necessarily be compatible. As
such there may be occasions when a nurse will act, while not engaged in nursing, in
ways where the expression of a particular virtue is differentiated from the way someone
engaged in the practice of nursing necessarily exhibits that same virtue. Additionally,
there are traits of character that might be more important in nursing than elsewhere. It
may be, for example, important to be meticulous in a particular nursing role but this
does not necessarily require that same person to be meticulous when not working as a
nurse. Thus there is a sense in which professional virtue is different in both substance
and importance from everyday virtue although it is recognised that this is to challenge
not only the idea of the unity of virtues but also the idea that a virtue is an enduring
disposition. I will return to these issues in various ways throughout the thesis for they
are important challenges that require attention.

In Chapter 3 I argue that nursing is a practice in the sense in which Alastair Macintyre
(1985) uses that term. This means that nurses can choose to engage with nursing in
ways that enable the expression of virtue. While it is recognised this would ideally make
possible the expression of ‘full’ virtue which can be extended into, or transferred in
from, other areas of nurses’ lives, it may be the best that can be achieved by some
nurses takes the form of a weak (perhaps even a modem) sense of virtue. This minimal

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