Comparison of the Level of Ethical Development of Nurses at Teaching and Private Hospitals in Mashhad

Today, due to changes in health care services, including the use of Updated technologies, differences in people's demands and needs, change in patterns of diseases, increasing public awareness, the necessity of applying an ethical approach is increasingly felt. Therefore, this study was designed to assess the level of ethical development of nurses in Mashhad hospitals and compare it among nurses in teaching and private hospitals.

In this descriptive-analytical study, 198 nurses were selected by the census sampling from 4 private and teaching hospitals in Mashhad. Informed consent was obtained from each participant included in the study. The data collection tool was Kohlberg standard questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 16 statistical software. P-value<0.05 was considered significant.

The average age and mean work experience of nurses were 35.86±7.80 and 7.73±7.03 respectively. The average score of NP was 45.29±6.84 and the mean CP score was 20.9±3.91 in nurses and there was no significant difference in private and teaching hospitals. Also, except in the intensive care unit there was not a significant relationship between demographic factors and these scores. Ethical Considerations: Participants' informed consent and compliance with the principle of confidentiality were considered.

According to the results, it was found that the level of ethical development score is higher than the average score but far from the optimal level. Most of the nurses are at the level of the post conventional and conventional, but a significant number are at the pre-conventional level. On the other hand, considering the effect of professional environment and performance of the nurses on students modeling and learning, it is expected that promotion of ethical aspect of professional nurses, especially in teaching hospitals, will be the priority of nurses’ empowerment programs. Also it is a necessity to monitor and evaluation of Nurses’ performance.