Which scenario illustrates a collision between a patient's definition of doing good and the NP's virtue ethics?

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In virtue ethics, doing good is guided by virtuous character and professional responsibilities—acting with prudence, honesty, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and integrity. The NP’s role is to harmonize compassion with safe, evidence-based care and to avoid actions that could cause harm or undermine professional standards. A collision happens when what the patient believes is “doing good” pushes beyond what virtuous, professional practice allows.

Relieving pain promptly is a caring impulse, but assigning narcotics without a clear etiologic assessment risks masking a real problem, enabling misuse, and violating safety and stewardship practices. The NP would seek to treat pain while thoroughly evaluating the cause, using appropriate dosing, monitoring for safety, and addressing the underlying issue. That tension—wanting to relieve suffering versus adhering to prudent, evidence-based care—shows the clash.

Similarly, helping a neighbor by giving an antibiotic without evaluation seems benevolent to the requester, but virtue ethics demands appropriate indications, diagnosis, and stewardship to prevent harm and resistance. The NP must decline and instead promote proper assessment and prescribing only when justified, explaining the rationale and offering safe alternatives. Here too, the patient’s view of doing good conflicts with professional integrity and safe practice.

Because both situations involve a patient’s notion of helping or doing good that conflicts with the NP’s virtuous, principled approach, they illustrate the collision.