title: Open-mindedness: a virtue for professional practice.
abstract: This paper introduces the notion of open-mindedness before proceeding to outline its value to the practical activity of nursing. An argument is constructed to point to the desirability of the development of a virtue of open-mindedness in nurses in order to complement evidence-based practice. Attention is drawn to two failures of open-mindedness (the vices of closed-mindedness and credulousness), which have the potential both to restrict autonomous practice and to cause harm.
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D028663:Ethical Theory; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D010687:Philosophy, Nursing; D028722:Virtues