Professional nursing goals embody broad concepts
of health promotion, increasing access to care, illness
reduction, minimizing injury, and advocating for
changes that advance these goals and provide the basis
for providing nursing care to individuals and populations.3
Deontologic ethics are closely linked to
nursing goals and include beneficence, non-maleficence,
justice, respect for human dignity, and social responsibility
and are integrated throughout the
American Nurses Association’s Guide to the Code of
Ethics for Nurses.
4 These ethical principles serve as the
basis for practice for all APNs regardless of clinical
specialty, practice setting, or service population.
Failure to provide screening, treatment or referral,
and education on the causative and protective factors
for reducing the incidence of postpartum depression
is in direct opposition to nursing goals of health
promotion, illness reduction, and alleviation of
suffering for individuals and populations.