Evaluation of Compliance Rate of Midwives with the Codes of Professional Ethics in Maternity and Gynecology Wards of Hospitals Affiliated with Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in 2016

Compliance with ethical principles is one of the main components in midwifery profession, affecting the personal, professional and social performance of midwives. Given the fact that adhering to professional ethics leads to the accountability of the healthcare team, the study aimed to determine the observance of codes of professional ethics in midwifery by midwives working in gynecology and maternity wards and some related factors in hospitals affiliated with Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 42 midwives working in maternity wards and 31 midwives working in gynecology wards of hospitals affiliated with Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. The data collection tool was a self-report questionnaire consisting of two sections, including demographic characteristics and a researcher-made questionnaire based on codes of professional ethics using a five-point Likert scale. Data analysis was performed in SPSS software (version 18) using independent t-test, Pearson’s and Spearman’s correlation coefficients, and one-way analysis of variance. Moreover, P-value below 0.05 was considered significant.
In this research, mean score of adhering to professional ethics codes in midwives working in maternity wards was 80.5±14.7, whereas it was 85.1±12.02 in midwives in gynecology wards. According to the results of Spearman’s correlation coefficient, a direct association was observed between the mean score of compliance with the ethical codes and knowledge about the midwifery codes of professional ethics (P=0.02, r= 0.273).
Results of the study emphasized the need to increase training courses on midwifery code of ethics for midwives working in maternity and gynecology wards.