Abstract
Oftentimes as educators, instructors approach ethics education as if students have all the time in the world to pontificate. This article provides an alternative teaching strategy where there is less ‘talk’, and more action as the SBAR model is utilized in the ethical decision making process. A case study depicting a difficult patient care situation provides the backdrop for a discussion of ethical decision making as a skill which can be developed when sound reasoning and principles are applied by the nursing student or novice nurse. By assuring that students have a working understanding of the concept of advocacy from an ethical perspective, educators can promote nurses’ voices at the multidisciplinary table. Nurses need a practical, relevant approach or tool such as SBAR, which can be universally applied to various practice areas and patient care situations.
