Social justice: Faculty reports on student clinical incompetence from the ethic of justice and the ethic of care

The purpose of this study was to examine the reports of faculty members in baccalaureate nursing programs related to student clinical incompetence from the ethic of justice and the ethic of care. A qualitative approach was used to study the reports of faculty members from two baccalaureate nursing programs in a New England state. The purposeful sample of seven faculty members was drawn from two private academic institutions. I investigated the hypothesis that the extent to which faculty practice from an ethic of justice or from an ethic of care provides the framework, which supports the difficult decisions to dismiss students who demonstrate clinical incompetence.;The study faculty reports related to student clinical incompetence based on social justice theory, in particular Gilligan's (1982) ethic of care and Kohlberg's (1981) ethic of justice.;The study used an interview protocol and the participants took part in in-person interviews that were recorded. The conclusions of the study included the following: faculty members in baccalaureate nursing programs reported student incompetence and dismissal from the ethic of justice as being related to academic procedures that uphold the due process rights of students; faculty members in baccalaureate nursing programs reported student clinical incompetence and dismissal as being related to the ethic of care in controlling for subjectivity in the clinical evaluation process; faculty members in baccalaureate nursing programs reported student clinical incompetence and dismissal as being related to the ethic of justice and the ethic of care as mutually supportive constructs, in tandem related to reconciling the conflict between the faculty member's educative role of caring for the student and the professional duty for patient safety.;Recommendations for practice could include enhanced preparation for faculty members in evaluation of clinical practice, the development of consistent clinical expectations across regional and national programs and the development of consistent clinical evaluation tools.;Recommendations for further research could include quantitative studies to test the validity and reliability of clinical evaluation tools and qualitative studies in faculty measures to control for subjectivity in the evaluation of student clinical performance.