What are the 4 pillars of ethical practice?

Asked by: Dr. Brad Hegmann PhD  |  Last update: February 11, 2026
Score: 4.8/5 (27 votes)

The four pillars of ethical practice, especially in healthcare, are Autonomy (respecting self-determination), Beneficence (doing good), Non-Maleficence (doing no harm), and Justice (fairness and equitable distribution of resources). These principles, formalized by Beauchamp and Childress, serve as a fundamental framework for guiding moral decisions, particularly in medicine, by balancing patient rights, professional duties, and societal fairness.

What are the 4 pillars of ethics?

The 4 main ethical principles, that is beneficence, nonmaleficence, autonomy, and justice, are defined and explained. Informed consent, truth-telling, and confidentiality spring from the principle of autonomy, and each of them is discussed.

What are the 4 pillars of practice?

The four pillars of advanced practice are clinical practice, leadership and management, education, and research. Read our page on the role of governance in advanced practice, and how the Governance Maturity Matrix can help you effectively implement it into your organisation.

What are the 4 P's of ethics?

ETHICA-4P: an Ethics Toolkit for Harnessing Integrity in Complex Arenas (ETHICA) through the consideration of Place, People, Principles and Practice (4P's). This site provides an ethics toolkit for researchers, practitioners and others who conduct or support research in complex, low income or fragile settings.

What are the 4 pillars of nursing ethics?

There are four main principles of ethics: autonomy, beneficence, justice, and non-maleficence. Each patient has the right to make their own decisions based on their own beliefs and values. [4].

4 Pillars of Medical Ethics

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What are the 4 P's of nursing?

This practice involves a nurse or nursing assistant checking in on patients to evaluate their pain levels, comfort, bathroom needs, and accessibility to personal items—often referred to as the "4 Ps": pain, position, potty, and possessions.

What are the 4 pillars of nursing theory?

A metaparadigm is a set of ideas that provides structure for how a healthcare discipline should function. The metaparadigm of nursing refers to the four main concepts tied to nursing theory: person, health, environment, and nursing.

What are the 4 R's of ethics?

Reduction, Refinement, Replacement, and Responsibility in Animal Research.

What are the 4 types of ethics?

From the earliest moments of recorded human consciousness, the ethical discipline has entailed four fundamental approaches, often called ethical decision-making frameworks: Utilitarian Ethics (outcome based), Deontological Ethics (duty based), Virtue Ethics (virtue based), and Communitarian Ethics (community based).

What are the 4 ethical rules?

The four core ethical principles, especially prominent in healthcare, are Autonomy (respecting self-determination), Beneficence (doing good), Non-maleficence (doing no harm), and Justice (fairness and equity). Developed by Beauchamp and Childress, this framework helps guide ethical decision-making by balancing individual rights, promoting well-being, preventing harm, and ensuring fair treatment for everyone.
 

What are the four main pillars?

Only when all four pillars work together can a true democratic house thrive. India's vibrant democracy, once seen as a beacon of hope, faces increasing concerns about the erosion of its four key pillars: the judiciary, legislature, executive, and media.

What are the 4 pillars of advanced nursing practice?

It has four pillars:

  • clinical practice.
  • leadership.
  • facilitation of learning.
  • evidence, research and development.

What are the four pillars of health care?

  • Nutrition: your diet, or what you eat. ...
  • Physical Activity: the amount of movement and exercise you get. ...
  • Sleep: the time that your body uses to rebuild, regrow, and recover. ...
  • Behavioral Health: encompasses many topics including stress management and coping skills, ...
  • 4 Pillars of Health.

What is the golden rule of ethics?

The most familiar version of the Golden Rule says, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Moral philosophy has barely taken notice of the golden rule in its own terms despite the rule's prominence in commonsense ethics.

What are the 4 views of ethics?

This paper has evaluated and explained the four alternative views of ethical behavior including utilitarian view, individual view, justice view and moral-rights view and interpret the definitions of Corporate Social Responsibility from the perspective of four views.

What are the 4 pillars of the rule of law?

The four core principles of the Rule of Law, as defined by the World Justice Project, are Accountability (everyone, including government, is subject to the law), Just Laws (laws are clear, publicized, stable, and protect rights), Open Government (lawmaking/enforcement processes are accessible, fair, and efficient), and Accessible & Impartial Justice (fair, timely justice delivered by competent, independent professionals). These principles ensure laws are applied fairly, protect fundamental rights, and build public trust in the legal system. 

What are the 4 principles of situation ethics?

These then are his “four working principles”: pragmatism, relativism, positivism and personalism.

What are the 4 dimensions of ethics?

Explore the four key Dimensions of Ethics—descriptive, meta, normative, and applied ethics. Understand their roles, examples, and how ethical theories like utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue ethics guide moral decision-making in real life.

What are the four components of ethics?

The four main elements (or principles) of ethics, especially in healthcare, are Autonomy (respecting self-governance), Beneficence (doing good), Nonmaleficence (doing no harm), and Justice (fairness and equitable distribution). This "four-principle approach" provides a practical framework for analyzing ethical dilemmas by balancing these fundamental moral obligations, stemming from historical ideas like "first, do no harm".
 

What are the 4 principles of ethics?

The four core ethical principles, especially prominent in healthcare, are Autonomy (respecting self-determination), Beneficence (doing good), Non-maleficence (doing no harm), and Justice (fairness and equity). Developed by Beauchamp and Childress, this framework helps guide ethical decision-making by balancing individual rights, promoting well-being, preventing harm, and ensuring fair treatment for everyone.
 

What is the 4R principle?

Answer: Reduce, reuse, recycle, and recover garbage are all part of the 4-R approach for proper plastic use. The 4-R rule is a garbage and waste stream management strategy that is environmentally sustainable.

What are the 3Rs in ethics?

What are the 3Rs? The principles of the 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction and Refinement) were developed over 50 years ago providing a framework for performing more humane animal research.

What are the 4 C's of nursing?

Background: The four primary care (PC) core functions (the '4Cs', ie, first contact, comprehensiveness, coordination and continuity) are essential for good quality primary healthcare and their achievement leads to lower costs, less inequality and better population health.

What are the 4 pillars of advanced practice?

1.1 Definition

This is underpinned by a master's level award or equivalent that encompasses the four pillars of clinical practice, leadership and management, education and research, with demonstration of core capabilities and area specific clinical competence.

What is the Peplau theory?

Peplau's Nursing Theory focuses on the nurse-patient relationship and is composed of four overlapping phases: orientation, identification, exploitation, and resolution. The theory views the patient as a person trying to meet needs and defines nursing as an interpersonal process to promote health.