Determination of nurses' attitudes toward ethical principles in the clinical environment

Abstract

This research was carried out as a descriptive study to determine the attitudes of nurses toward ethical principles in the clinical setting. The research was carried out between 08/04/2023 and 14/04/2023 with the participation of 203 nurses working in a university hospital. The data were collected using a 22-question introductory information form prepared by the researcher in line with the literature and the Ethical Principles Attitude Scale. The conformity of the data to normal distribution was evaluated by Shapiro-Wilk and Kolmogorov Smirnov tests. Frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, median (min-max), Kruskal Wallis test, and Mann-Whitney U test were used to analyze the data. In line with the findings obtained from this study, nurses' attitudes towards ethical principles were determined at a high level. It is recommended that nurses' awareness of the importance of ethical principles in the clinical environment should be increased in their professional education and postgraduation continuing education programs. Keywords: Clinical environment; ethics; ethical principles; nurse.