Nursing Ethics in Modern China: Conflicting Values and Competing Role Requirements

This book follows two lines of inquiry in understanding nursing ethics in the historical-cultural context of modern China. Firstly, it scrutinizes the prescribed set of moral virtues for nurses in fulfilling their role requirements during different periods of nursing development over the past century. Based on empirical studies, the book, secondly, explores the nurses’ evaluations of their ethical responsibilities in current practice. It carefully examines the particular viewpoints of nurses in their ethical appraisal of nursing practice and patient care situations. Drawing upon traditional ethical outlooks, international norms, and the experiences of nurses as they face difficult care situations, this book concludes with recommendations for improving the quality of nursing in contemporary China.

Samantha Mei-che Pang is a nurse by professional training, and a researcher in the field of healthcare and nursing ethics by scholarly endeavor. She obtained her general nurse registration in Hong Kong in 1977 and a Certificate in Nursing Behavioral Science from The University of Hong Kong in 1985. She then received a Post-Registration Diploma in Nursing from The Hong Kong Polytechnic in 1986 and a Master’s of Science in Nursing Education from The University of Edinburgh in 1990. Her nursing practice was primarily concerned with caring for children and older adults with chronic illnesses. She received a Bachelor’s in Philosophy from Pontifical Urbanian University in 1983 and a Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy from The University of Hong Kong in 1999. In 2002, she was named one of the first recipients of the Fulbright Hong Kong Scholar Program awards to study cross-cultural differences in making end-of-life decisions at Boston College. Pang started her career as a nurse academic in 1990, when she took up a teaching post at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University where she now serves as an Associate Professor in the School of Nursing. Over the past ten years, she has taught, lectured, and published in the areas of nursing ethics, caring practices, and ethics in end-of-life care. Her passion for China and Chinese nurses is well reflected in her continuous engagement in scholarly activities with nurses in different parts of China. The projects she has undertaken in collaboration with her counterparts on the Chinese mainland include the development of a code of ethical principles for Chinese nurses using the Delphi Technique, the cultural construction of caring in nurse learners, and a phenomenological study of the Chinese concept of nursing. With funding support from the University Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, she is now embarking on a journey in the field of ethical decision making in end-of-life care. She is also actively involved in nursing ethics endeavors internationally. As a member of the International Centre for Nursing Ethics at the University of Surrey, she has participated in the study of ethical considerations in international nursing research, and an international study on the value of nursing.