Academic Journal
Nursing in Capitalist Healthcare: The Ethical Dichotomy Between the Vocation of Nursing and the Healthcare-Industrial Complex.
| Τίτλος: | Nursing in Capitalist Healthcare: The Ethical Dichotomy Between the Vocation of Nursing and the Healthcare-Industrial Complex. |
|---|---|
| Συγγραφείς: | Quiñones NJ; Azusa Pacific University, Azusa, California, USA. |
| Πηγή: | Nursing philosophy : an international journal for healthcare professionals [Nurs Philos] 2026 Jul; Vol. 27 (3), pp. e70094. |
| Τύπος έκδοσης: | Journal Article |
| Γλώσσα: | English |
| Στοιχεία περιοδικού: | Publisher: Wiley Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 100897394 Publication Model: Print Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1466-769X (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 14667681 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Nurs Philos Subsets: MEDLINE |
| Imprint Name(s): | Original Publication: Oxford, UK : Wiley, c2000- |
| Ιατρικοί όροι (MeSH): | Delivery of Health Care*/ethics , Ethics, Nursing* , Capitalism*, Humans ; Philosophy, Nursing ; Ethical Dilemmas |
| Περίληψη: | Nursing is a profession grounded in a vocation of caring, altruism and moral responsibility. However, contemporary nursing practice occurs largely within a healthcare system structured by neoliberal, productivity-driven imperatives-commonly described as the healthcare-industrial complex. As market-oriented logics continue to shape healthcare delivery and access to care, tensions emerge between the moral foundations of nursing and the economic rationalities that govern healthcare institutions. This paper presents a philosophical analysis of the bioethical contradictions that nurses experience in practising within the healthcare-industrial complex. Drawing on bioethical principles, nursing ethics and critical social theory, the analysis examines how neoliberal healthcare structures create moral distress, ethical dissonance and constrained moral agency among nurses. This paper argues that nurses' ethical struggle is not a failure of professional integrity but a predictable outcome of structural forces that compel participation in systems that are misaligned with nursing's moral commitments. By elucidating these dynamics, this analysis offers a conceptual framework for understanding nurse moral distress and identifies pathways for ethical agency, resistance and professional advocacy within contemporary healthcare. (© 2026 The Author(s). Nursing Philosophy published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.) |
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| Contributed Indexing: | Keywords: bioethics; healthcare‐industrial complex; moral distress; neoliberalism; nursing ethics; nursing philosophy; nursing practice |
| Entry Date(s): | Date Created: 20260623 Date Completed: 20260623 Latest Revision: 20260726 |
| Update Code: | 20260726 |
| PubMed Central ID: | PMC13290111 |
| DOI: | 10.1111/nup.70094 |
| PMID: | 42335320 |
| Βάση Δεδομένων: | MEDLINE |
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