D Seedhouse. John Wiley & Sons, 2000, £16.99, pp 222. ISBN NO: 0-471-49012-1

• Seedhouse D. Practical Nursing Philosophy: the Universal Ethical Code

This book is clearly written and well laid out. The short summary at the beginning of each chapter is a useful guide to the reader and also serves as a valuable summary of key issues for revision purposes. The author offers a number of case scenarios for the reader to work through and provides many practical examples of situation analysis and possible steps to ethical decision making. Seedhouse accurately claims that in nursing, as elsewhere, philosophical analysis is useful in helping to clarify ideas. Unfortunately, as he also accurately points out, to date much that has been described as nursing philosophy has not in fact led to the clarification of ideas but rather to …