The relationship between ethical reasoning and demographic characteristics of nurses

As a result of the changes made in health care systems, nurses nowadays are faced with more complicated ethical dilemmas. Therefore, they need to be familiar with ethical decision-making procedures and have the ability to perform ethical reasoning. The present study aimed to evaluate this ability in nurses and investigate its relationship with demographic characteristics in a subspecialized hospital in Tehran during 2015. This was a descriptive-analytical study, and the research population consisted of 245 qualified nurses selected by census. A demographic questionnaire and Crisham’s Nursing Dilemma Test were used to collect the data. Descriptive-analytical tests and SPSS software version 22 were used for data analysis. Based on the, the mean value of the nurses’ ethical reasoning was 40.81 ± 6.72, which is lower than the average score of the test. Furthermore, increased work experience led to a reduction in the mean value of ethical reasoning (P ≤ 0.05). Overall, single subjects scored higher in the mean ethical reasoning than those who were married (P ≤ 0.05), but no significant relationship was observed between other demographic characteristics and the mean of ethical reasoning. Due to the nurses’ low ability to perform ethical reasoning, further studies will need to be conducted on proper training methods to promote ethical decision-making in nurses. As regards the reduced ethical reasoning ability in nurses with more work experience, it is necessary to identify the reasons and devise appropriate solutions with the help of nursing managers and hospital ethics committees.