The Microethics of Nursing Care for Women Living in Poverty
College of Nursing and Department of Community Medicine, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Corresponding Author: Thomas J, Doctus Journal of Nursing Science.
Abstract
Bioethics in nursing is usually taught through large dilemmas - consent, end of life, resource allocation. This perspective argues that the ethical texture of care for women living in poverty is instead made of small, repeated decisions: whether to ask about domestic circumstances when the ward is full, whether to record a refusal as non-compliance, whether to explain a discharge instruction a third time. Drawing on observational fieldwork in two public hospital wards, we describe how these microethical moments accumulate into differential care that no policy audit detects. We propose reflective debriefing built into shift handover as a practical, low-cost counterweight.
Keywords
Nursing Ethics; Microethics; Health Equity; Women's Health; Poverty; Reflective Practice
How to Cite
Thomas J and Saha P. “The Microethics of Nursing Care for Women Living in Poverty”. Doctus Journal of Nursing Science 2.2 (2026): 41-52.
Copyright and Licence
© 2026 Thomas J. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.