Administration, vol. 62, no. 1 (2014), pp. 41–53 Integrating dignity, compassion and ethics into hospital governance Dónal P. O’Mathúna School of Nursing & Human Sciences, Dublin City University Abstract Ethics is often associated with dramatic decisions about issues that are hotly debated. This article focuses instead on everyday ethics, where there is little disagreement over what is ethical or unethical. In everyday ethics, personal interactions are central and questions arise over the care, compassion and dignity involved. Problems here are often identified when someone’s dignity is violated. Again, while most affirm the importance of promoting dignity, actions and attitudes that diminish people’s dignity are all too common in health care. Clinical governance needs to include initiatives that promote dignity, compassion and ethics. A model is proposed that addresses everyday ethics from a holistic perspective. Literature is used to exemplify how this can be practically integrated into health-care practice. Given the importance of literature and the arts in Ireland, their power to shape the heart, mind and soul should be harnessed to integrate dignity, compassion and ethics into hospital governance. Keywords: Everyday ethics, dignity, compassion, wisdom, literature Introduction: Everyday ethics The focus of this article is on the compassion and wisdom aspects of the conference title for which it was developed: ‘Can medicine, ethics, the law, compassion and wisdom find common ground?’. 1 Discussions of ethics in the context of health care and hospitals are often focused on controversial issues such as abortion, assisted suicide and informed consent. More broadly, bioethics often focuses on controversies 41 1 The conference ‘Hospital Governance: Can Medicine, Ethics, the Law, Compassion and Wisdom Find Common Ground?’ was convened by the Adelaide Health Policy Initiative in Dublin, 3 October 2013. 03 O Mathuna article_Admin 62-1 20/05/2014 19:25 Page 41