Mary Ellen Wurzbach
Title:
John McNaughton Rosebush Professor of Nursing
Educational Background:
PhD University of Minnesota
Specialty area:
Bioethics, Community Health Nursing
Teaching area:
Nursing ethics (Primary Care and Advanced Nursing Practice), End-of-life Care, Community Health
Scholarly Interests:
My primary interests in scholarship involve moral conviction and how that conviction affects the moral choices of nurses. This involves moral certainty and uncertainty, moral comfort, and moral regret. Nursing philosophy as well as the wider discipline of Philosophy are also scholarly interests.
Recent Publications/Presentations:
Publications - Articles
Wurzbach, M.E. (2008). Risk, trust, informed consent and health care. Journal of Legal Medicine Fall 2008.
Wurzbach, M. E. (December 2007). Manuscript reviewing: An ethical perspective. Nurse, Author & Editor: Blackwell Science Publications.
Haas, S.G. (2006). I’ll never forget: Unexpected humility. Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care, March/April, 8(2), p. 120-121. (My Sigma Theta Tau International Mentee in the Distinguished Writer Program).
Wurzbach, M.E. (2005). Risk, trust, informed consent, and managed care. (Accepted
for publication in the Journal of Nursing Risk Management. Spring 2005).
Wurzbach, M.E. (2005). Spring 2003 Commencement Speech at University of Wisconsin-
Oshkosh. Nursing ethics and Hagar the Horrible Reflections On Nursing Leadership 3rd Quarter 2005, 31(3), p. 18-19, 28.
Wurzbach, M. E. (2002). End-of-Life treatment decisions in long-term care. The Journal of Gerontological Nursing,
28(6), 14-21.
Wurzbach, M. E. (2000). The moral metaphors of nursing. Neonatal Intensive Care 13(5), 29-37. (Request to reprint from The Journal of Advanced Nursing 30(1), 94-99).
Wurzbach, M. E. (2000). Nursing perspectives on practitioner-assisted suicide. Nursing Outlook, 48(3), 116-119. (Won the Region IV Print Media Award for Excellence in Nursing Journalism, Sigma Theta Tau International, 2001).
Wurzbach, M. E. (1999). Acute care nurses' experiences of moral certainty. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 30(2), 287-293.
Wurzbach, M. E. (1999). The moral metaphors of nursing. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 30(1), 94-99.
Wurzbach, M. E. (1998). Managed care: Moral conflicts for primary health care nurses. Nursing Outlook, 46(2), 62-66.
Wurzbach, M. E. (1996). Comfort and nurses' moral choices. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 24, 260-264.
Wurzbach, M. E. (1996). Long-term care nurses' ethical convictions about tube-feeding. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 18(1), 63-76. (Won the Region IV Print Media Award for Excellence in Nursing Journalism, Sigma Theta Tau International, 1997).
Wurzbach, M. E. (1995). Long-term care nurses' moral convictions. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 21, 1059-1064.
Wurzbach, M. E. (1993). Teaching nursing ethics on television: Fostering interactivity. Journal of Nursing Education, 32(1), 37-39.
Wurzbach, M. E. (1992). An assessment and intervention for certainty and uncertainty. Nursing Forum, 27(2), 29-35.
Wurzbach, M. E. (1991). Decision-making under conditions of uncertainty. Nursing Forum, 26(3), 27-35.
Wurzbach, M. E. (1990). The dilemma of withholding or withdrawing nutrition. Image: Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 24(1), 18-22. (Won the Region IV Print Media Award for Excellence in Nursing Journalism, Sigma Theta Tau International, 1991).
Publications--Book:
Wurzbach, M.E. (2002; 2004). Consulting Editor 2nd Edition. Community Health Education and Promotion: A guide to program design. Gaithersburg, MD; Aspen Publishers, Inc. Republished by Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2004. Bestseller.
Publications—Book Chapters:
Wurzbach, M. E. (1997). Quality care: An ethical imperative in a time of change. In C. Meisenheimer (Ed.), Improving quality: A guide to effective programs. Gaithersburg, MD; Aspen Publishers, Inc. (AJN Book of the Year, 1997). The American Journal of Nursing is the oldest nursing journal in the world.
Wurzbach, M.E. (2008). Moral certainty, moral uncertainty, and moral regret: Theoretical perspectives. Nursing and Health Care Ethics: A Legacy and a Vision.Omaha Project. American Nurses Association (Nursing and Health Care Ethics: A Legacy and A Vision has received a 2008 Publication Award of Excellence in Washington D.C. from the Washington D.C. Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication (STC). The STC is the largest individual membership organization in the world dedicated to promoting technical communication The writing of the book, to which I contributed a chapter, was described by the organization making the award as “compelling”.
Presentations:
2008 Treatment Trials - The Need for an End-of-life Policy. Accepted for Nursing Ethics and Health Care Policy: Bridging Local, National and International Perspectives the International Centre for Nursing Ethics at Yale University on July 17-19, 2008.
2008 Is Principlism an Adequate Foundation for Nursing Ethics? Presented at Boston College on September 24, 2008 for the Twelfth Annual International Nursing Philosophy Conference.
2007 Moral Certainty, Moral Uncertainty, and Moral Regret: Theoretical Perspectives. Nursing and Health Care Ethics: A Legacy and a Vision. Omaha, Nebraska, April 26, 2007.
2006 Pain Management: An Ethical Imperative: Update Midwest Nursing Research Society Annual Conference 2006.
2005 Pain Management: An Ethical Imperative. Midwest Nursing Research Society, Annual Conference April 2005.
Awards:
2009-2010 John McNaughton Rosebush Professorship Award
2009-2010 Edward M. Penson Distinguished Teaching Award
2009-2010 100 Distinguished Alumni School of Nursing University of Minnesota
2008-2009 Penson Award Recipient for Excellence in Teaching, Scholarship, Service
2008-2011 Appointed Gerontologic Champion for the John Hartford Geriatric Center at the University of Minnesota.
2008 MNRS Palliative/End-of-Life Care Section Advancement of the Science Award
2006-2008 Ethics Professor, Nursing and Health Care Ethics: A Legacy and a Vision, Omaha Project
1999-2003 TRISS Endowed Professor
Other Interests
My other interests include history, geology, psychology, philosophy (philosophy of mind
and epistemology), politics and writing.
