The Ethics of Communication Technologies in the Provision of Remote, Home-Based Nursing Care

This chapter examines the utilisation of communication technologies to assist in the delivery of remote, home-based nursing care—and health care more broadly—from an ethics perspective. The chapter begins by outlining some of the terms that have come to be used to describe the application of communication technologies within the digitalisation of health care. Second, some of the common ethical concerns and ethical questions regarding the application of communication technologies are set out. Finally, it is proposed that on a macro level, an adapted Equivalence of Care (Charles and Draper, J Med Ethics 38:215–218, 2012) should be an overarching principle for supplying nursing care and that on a micro level, technomoral virtues (Vallor, Oxford University Press, New York, 2016) should be fostered in nurses providing care remotely to home-based patients, using communication technologies.