Abstract
The identification of human rights issues has become more prominent in statements from national and international nursing organisations such as the American Nurses Association and the United Kingdom's Royal College of Nursing with the International Council of Nursing asserting that human rights are fundamental to and inherent in nursing and that nurses have an obligation to promote people's health rights at all times in all places.However, concern has been expressed about this development. Human rights may be seen as the imposition of legal considerations for nurses and other healthcare workers to bear in mind, as yet more responsibilities with the consequent fear of litigation. Although a more hopeful scenario is that consideration of human rights is something that is supportive of good practice.If this more hopeful scenario is to be realised, the role of education will be crucial. As with human rights generally, human rights education is a global phenomenon, a practice-orientated expression of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the goal of human rights education is to build a culture of respect and action for human rights for all.However, the nature of human rights has long been contested. A 'mapping exercise' of the academic literature on human rights identified 'four schools' or 'ideal types' that have shaped thinking about human rights. This sets out the conceptual context in which human rights problems are defined and solutions are proposed, which is particularly important for human rights education. However, it also complicates the picture. The different approaches taken by the four 'types' would likely lead to different outcomes in terms of human rights education.It is timely to discuss the nature of human rights education and examine its potential for impact on patient care. This will involve identifying the challenges and potential benefits of this approach and analysing the implications for professional practice.
Highlights
The identification of human rights issues has become more prominent in statements from national and international nursing organisations such as the American Nurses Association[1] and the United Kingdom’s Royal College of Nursing[2] with the International Council of Nursing (ICN)[3] asserting that human rights are fundamental to and inherent in nursing and that nurses have an obligation to promote people’s health rights at all times in all places
When human rights education focuses on human rights principles (FREDA and PANEL, for example) rather than being recognised as confirmatory and enabling re-connection with professional motivation, it may be regarded as unnecessary because practice is already guided by legislation and standards set by regulatory bodies consistent with these principles
It is likely that human rights education in patient care meets neither of the concerns of healthcare professionals about applying human rights in practice
Summary
The identification of human rights issues has become more prominent in statements from national and international nursing organisations such as the American Nurses Association[1] and the United Kingdom’s Royal College of Nursing[2] with the International Council of Nursing (ICN)[3] asserting that human rights are fundamental to and inherent in nursing and that nurses have an obligation to promote people’s health rights at all times in all places These assertions are based on the claim that nursing, in common with other healthcare professions, has a statutory framework of self-regulation founded on an ethical code that constitutes a ‘social contract’ with the public so is ‘ . It will be used to encompass ‘human rights principles’ such as fairness, respect, equality, dignity and autonomy (FREDA) and participation, accountability, non-discrimination and equality, empowerment and legality (PANEL), some of which are explicitly moral principles used widely in practice
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