Carolyn Ann Laabs,

PhD, APRN-BC, FNP-C

Office Phone

(414) 288-3857

E-mail Address

carolyn.laabs@marquette.edu

Specialization

Primary care nurse practitioner, health care ethics

Highest Degree/School

PhD, Rush University

Brief Statement of Scholarly Interests

My scholarly interests include health care ethics, nursing ethics, moral distress, moral integrity, and ethics education.  I am currently studying a theory of maintaining moral integrity in the face of moral conflict.  I am particularly interested in ethical issues in primary care nurse practitioner practice and the processes used to manage moral problems in clinical practice.

Additional Descriptors

• Moral integrity

• Moral distress

• Ethics education

• The nurse practitioner-patient relationship

• Vulnerable populations, in particular, the homeless

Descriptive Titles of Courses Recently Taught

• Ethics in Health Care

• Advanced Assessment and Management of Episodic Health Problems

Selected Publications

Laabs, C. A.  (in review).  What does justice say about euthanasia?  A nursing perspective.  Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Centre for Nursing Ethics, Yale University, July 2008.

Laabs, C. A.  (2008). The Community of Nursing:  Moral Friends, Moral Strangers, Moral Family.  Nursing Philosophy:  The Official Journal of the International Philosophy of Nursing Society, 9(4), 225-232.

Laabs, C. A.  (2007).  Should advance practice nurses perform abortions?  Debate in the profession.  Life and Learning XVII. Proceedings of the Seventeenth University Faculty for Life Conference at Villanova University.  Washington D.C.:  University Faculty for Life.

Laabs, C. A.  (2007).  Primary care nurse practitioners’ integrity when faced with moral conflict. Nursing Ethics, 14(6), 795-809. 

Laabs, C. A.  (2005).  Moral problems and the nurse practitioner in primary care.  Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners 17(2), 76-84.

Laabs, C. A. (2003).  Conflicts of obligation and the nurse practitioner in primary care:  

Ethical considerations, Clinical Excellence for Nurse Practitioners 7(1-2), 34-39.

Extramural Grants or Awards

Newly graduated nurses’ perceptions of moral integrity, Manresa Project Research Award, Marquette University, 2007.

Confidence and knowledge of ethics among advanced practice nurses, Regular Research Grant, Marquette University Committee on Research,  2007.

The Dean’s Award, Rush University College of Nursing, for Outstanding Academic and Clinical Achievements and Leadership, 2006. 

The Golden Lamp Society Award, Rush University College of Nursing, to an Outstanding Doctor of Nursing Science Student for Research and Scholarship, 2004.

Professional Affiliations

• American Academy of Nurse Practitioners

• American Society for Bioethics & Humanities

• Midwest Nursing Research Society

• Sigma Theta Tau, International Honor Society of Nursing