comparison of status performance of ethical ethical codes in nursing students & nurses practitioners in AL-Zahra hospital in Isfahan 2012

Ethical codes are developed as practical guidance for nursing care and are references of decisions-making by nurses in care process. With regard to the importance of morality issue in nursing، observance of ethical codes among nursing students and nursing practitioners in Al-Zahra hospital in Isfahan was studied.

This research is a descriptive- analytic study. Data gathering tool was 31-item questionnaire adopted from ethical codes for nurses developed by ministry of health medical education. In addition to individual information، this questionnaire includes two parts of ethical codes related to provision of clinical services (23 item) and those related to relationship of treatment team (8 item). The validity and reliability of the questionnaire was estimated (α=90%). Simple sampling was utilized to select 32 nursing students and 40 nursing practitioners in Al-Zahra hospital. Data were analyzed with SPSS version 18 and t test.

The average age was 22. 29 (1. 37) and 29. 47 (7. 34). Most of the students (93. 8%) and nurses (87. 5%) were women. There was no significant difference between the two groups in ethical codes related to provision of clinical services، but thenurses gained significantly more score in ethical codes compared to the treatment group (p=0. 04).

It is recommend that managers and nursing educators pay more attention to the observance of ethical codes related to provision of clinical services by nursing students and nurses.