Determinants of nurse ethical conduct in palliative care

Abstract Introduction. The work of a nurse in palliative care creates the necessity to respect appropriate ethical directives in fulfilling professional duties resulting from the need to protect patients’ basic values and rights. Aim. Assessing the determinants of nurse ethical behavior in palliative care. Material and methods. The study material was collected from 101 nurses working in the palliative care system. The study used the method of diagnostic survey by means of questionnaire technique. The research tool was the author’s survey questionnaire consisting of 26 questions. Non-parametric tests were used in data analysis: Pearson’s χ2 independence test, Mann-Whitney test and Kruskal-Wallis test. The significance level of p<0.05 was assumed. Calculations were performed with SPSS 20 program. Results. According to 69.3% of nurses, the character and personality of the nurse should be considered as the main determinant of ethical conduct in nursing work. In the opinion of 44.6%, they are the qualifications and professional competence that influence ethical conduct in the work of a nurse. Conclusions. The mean knowledge of the code of professional ethics of nurses in the study group was high, as it was 5.03 points (SD=0.64). Nurses and nurse practitioners who had higher knowledge of the principles of the code of professional ethics for nurses were more likely to be guided by ethical principles in their work.