Initial implementation of an ethical decision-making model for undergraduate nursing students

• Clinical models are used to teach critical thinking and decision-making in nursing. • Adapting a clinical decision-making model supports the development of moral reasoning. • This educational innovation lends structure to the instruction of nursing ethics. Nursing educators and students often rely upon theoretical models to support developing competency and critical thinking. Without tools to approach ethical problems and support decision-making, students lack the confidence to challenge and participate in ethical situations. This manuscript presents the adaptation of a model to support ethical decision-making. The initial implementation of the educational innovation seeks to lend structure to the instruction of ethics education for undergraduate nursing students. The ethical decision-making resource was adapted from multiple clinical judgment models and ethical frameworks, combined and simplified to facilitate application and implementation in an assignment for an undergraduate nursing course. Adapting the clinical judgment model to support ethical reasoning offers a sequential and systematic approach for the analysis of ethical dilemmas, thus fostering learning and supporting the development of moral reasoning. The decision-making model is applied with varying degrees of proficiency. The model proposes an adaptable and effective method to engage students and encourage critical thinking as it pertains to ethical reasoning.