Exploring undergraduate student nurses situated experience of ethics: centring students through story discussions

A major objective of current nurse education programs is to facilitate the development of ethically sensitive practitioners. While this might appear uncontroversial, disagreement exists in relation to the content of health care ethics and how it can best be taught. Using story discussion groups, undergraduate student nurses' situated experience of ethics are considered. Through analysis of the discussion group's transcripts, three dominant categories emerged: 'what if it harms?'; 'some things are never done'; and 'what kind of nurse should I be?'. Within these, underlying discourses about risk and expertise were identified. I conclude by suggesting that the concepts of risk and expertise need to be better articulated in the undergraduate nursing ethics curriculum. Closing suggestions discuss the value and limitations of using stories to explore situated ethics to inform the content of a more reasoned and relevant ethics curriculum.