Investigating and Comparison the Ethical Reasoning Level of Nursing Students Aja University of Medical Sciences with Nurses Working in One of Their Affiliated Hospitals

Nurses face numerous ethical challenges in their profession; the growth of ethical experiences along with knowledge of theory and clinical skills is an indispensable necessity.

The present study aimed to investigate and compare the ethical reasoning level of nursing students at AJA University of Medical Sciences with nurses working in one of their affiliated hospitals.

The descriptive -comparative study was performed on 70 nursing students and 68 nurses working selected by convenience sampling method. To collect data, the Nursing Dilemma Test (DNT) consisting of 6 scenarios was used. The data were analyzed using SPSS and descriptive and inferential statistics.

The mean score of moral reasoning in nursing students and working nurses were 48.18±2.2 and 42.91±3.1, respectively. The results of the t-test with independent samples indicate that the moral reasoning scores of nursing students are significantly higher than working nurses (P=0.03).

Taking actions to train ethical issues and improve the clinical environment is essential to enhance nurses’ moral reasoning ability.