Open Access, Peer-reviewed
pISSN 1225-9330
eISSN 2288-4955
    J Korean Acad Nurs Adm. 2015 Jun;21(3):327-339. Korean.
    Published online Jun 30, 2015.
    https://doi.org/10.11111/jkana.2015.21.3.327
    Copyright © 2015 Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
    Original Article

    Experiences of Ethical Issues and Needs for Ethics Education in Clinical Nurses

    Ja Hyun Shin,1 Seok Hee Jeong,2 Myung Ha Lee,2 and Youngran Yang2
      • 1Department of Nursing, Graduate School, Chonbuk National University, Korea.
      • 2College of Nursing, Research Institute of Nursing Science, Chonbuk National University, Korea.
    • Correspondence: Jeong, Seok Hee. College of Nursing, Chonbuk National University, 567 Baekje-daero, deokjin-gu, Jeonju 561-756, Korea. Tel: +82-63-270-3117, Fax: +82-63-270-3127, Email: awesomeprof@jbnu.ac.kr
    Received June 04, 2015; Revised June 11, 2015; Accepted June 12, 2015.

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

    Abstract

    Purpose

    This study was done to identify the experiences of ethical issues and needs for ethics education in clinical nurses.

    Methods

    A cross-sectional survey was used and data were collected in 2013. Participants were 428 clinical nurses working in the general units of seven medical hospitals. The Ethical Issues in Clinical Practice Tool was used. Data analysis was performed using SPSS/WIN 19.0.

    Results

    'Providing care with a possible risk to your health' was the most frequent and disturbing ethical problems for nurses. The highest helpful ethical topic was 'the patients' right, autonomy and informed consent'. The ethical issue experience was significantly different according to education level, work units, and type of employment. The necessity of ethics education was statistically different according to age, religion, level of education, duration of working as RN, position, shift type, and continuing education about nursing ethics.

    Conclusion

    The results of this study show that nursing educators need to provide practical ethics education based on frequent ethical issues and helpful education topics. These findings can be used in developing effective education strategies for clinical nurses and nursing organizations to improve nurses' ethical decision-making abilities.

    Keywords
    Ethical issues; Nursing ethics; Nursing education; Nursing practice; Nurses

    Tables

    Table 1
    General Characteristics of the Participants (N=419)

    Table 2
    Degree of Experience of Ethics Human Rights Issues and The Rank of Most Personally · Disturbing Issues (N=419)

    Table 3
    Activities for Handling Most Recent Disturbing Ethics ·Human Rights Situations (N=419)

    Table 4
    Perceived Needs for More Ethics·Human Rights Education in Nursing Practice (N=419)

    Table 5
    Differences of Experience about Ethical·Human Right Issues and Perceived Needs for More Ethics Education according to Characteristics of Participants (N=419)

    Notes

    This article is based on a part of the first author's master's thesis from Chonbuk National University

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    MeSH Terms
    Cross-Sectional Studies
    Education*
    Education, Continuing
    Education, Nursing
    Employment
    Ethics*
    Ethics, Nursing
    Nursing
    Patient Rights
    Statistics as Topic
    Metrics
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