{"title":"Ethical competence: the cornerstone of care in the cardiac operating room, a phenomenological study.","authors":"Seyed Kianoosh Hosseini, Fateme Mohammadi, Seyed Reza Borzou, Mostafa Bijani, Seyedeh Zahra Masoumi","doi":"10.1186/s12910-025-01295-1","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Ethical competence leads to the provision of principled and ethical care, which subsequently improves health and increases patient satisfaction. Among these, the cardiac operating room is one of the most challenging and stressful therapeutic environments, in which the ethical competencies of healthcare professionals can significantly impact the performance and quality of care. Therefore, it is critical to describe healthcare professionals' experiences in the operating room regarding ethical competency. The present study aimed to investigate the experiences and perceptions of ethical competency among healthcare professionals in a cardiac operating room.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This qualitative research project utilized a phenomenological design and included 23 participants selected through purposeful sampling. Data were collected from July 2023 to March 2024. Sampling continued until data saturation was achieved. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The collected data were analyzed using the Colaizzi approach.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The mean age of the participants was 36.64 ± 3.53 years. Three final themes with ten theme clusters \"respect to the dignity of the patient (respecting the patient's identity, respecting physical and sexual privacy, protecting information privacy), promoting the patient's mental health (paying attention to the patient's independence, providing comprehensive information, compassion) and expansion of moral obligations (promoting moral courage, avoiding discrimination, expansion ethical and principled care, promotion of ethical knowledge) were extracted from the data.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>According to this research, respecting the dignity of patients, paying attention to their identity and privacy, and promoting mental health and professional support are the most important indicators of ethical competence, which are associated with developing moral courage and fair and thoughtful decision-making in healthcare professionals. Based on this, officials and policymakers can take fundamental steps towards achieving and promoting the ethical competence of healthcare providers by creating fair policies that preserve human dignity and adhere to the principles of professional ethics.</p><p><strong>Clinical trial number: </strong>Not applicable.</p>","PeriodicalId":55348,"journal":{"name":"BMC Medical Ethics","volume":"26 1","pages":"128"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1000,"publicationDate":"2025-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"BMC Medical Ethics","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-025-01295-1","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ETHICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
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Abstract
Background: Ethical competence leads to the provision of principled and ethical care, which subsequently improves health and increases patient satisfaction. Among these, the cardiac operating room is one of the most challenging and stressful therapeutic environments, in which the ethical competencies of healthcare professionals can significantly impact the performance and quality of care. Therefore, it is critical to describe healthcare professionals' experiences in the operating room regarding ethical competency. The present study aimed to investigate the experiences and perceptions of ethical competency among healthcare professionals in a cardiac operating room.
Methods: This qualitative research project utilized a phenomenological design and included 23 participants selected through purposeful sampling. Data were collected from July 2023 to March 2024. Sampling continued until data saturation was achieved. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The collected data were analyzed using the Colaizzi approach.
Results: The mean age of the participants was 36.64 ± 3.53 years. Three final themes with ten theme clusters "respect to the dignity of the patient (respecting the patient's identity, respecting physical and sexual privacy, protecting information privacy), promoting the patient's mental health (paying attention to the patient's independence, providing comprehensive information, compassion) and expansion of moral obligations (promoting moral courage, avoiding discrimination, expansion ethical and principled care, promotion of ethical knowledge) were extracted from the data.
Conclusion: According to this research, respecting the dignity of patients, paying attention to their identity and privacy, and promoting mental health and professional support are the most important indicators of ethical competence, which are associated with developing moral courage and fair and thoughtful decision-making in healthcare professionals. Based on this, officials and policymakers can take fundamental steps towards achieving and promoting the ethical competence of healthcare providers by creating fair policies that preserve human dignity and adhere to the principles of professional ethics.
期刊介绍：
BMC Medical Ethics is an open access journal publishing original peer-reviewed research articles in relation to the ethical aspects of biomedical research and clinical practice, including professional choices and conduct, medical technologies, healthcare systems and health policies.
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