Comparing Ethical Reasoning of Nurses Working in the Intensive Care Units and Nursing Students in Dealing with Ethical dilemmas

 Developing students' cognitive reasoning skills is a crucial importance. Nurses in intensive care units (ICUs) face numerous ethical problems in practice. This study endeavored to compare the ethical reasoning of nurses ICUs and nursing students in dealing with ethical problems.

 This descriptive-analytical study was conducted in the academic year 2021 on 51 nurses of ICUs and 51 nursing students of Golestan University of Medical Sciences through random sampling method with proportional allocation with stratum size. Data were collected using the Crisham Ethical Reasoning questionnaire. Independent t-test at the significance level of 0.05 and Spearman correlation coefficient were used to analyze the data.

 Independent t-test showed that there was no significant difference between the mean of nurses' and students’ moral reasoning (46.68±5.92) (47.00±7.13) (P=0.405). Nursing interns obtained the highest score of moral reasoning from the nursing trainees and the difference was significant (P= 0.019). The relationship between gender (P= 0.032) and marital status (P= 0.026, t=1.993) with the mean score of moral reasoning was significant. There was no significant relationship between the type of ward, work experience and the mean score of nurses' ethical reasoning. There was no significant relationship between age, gender, and marital status of students with the mean score of moral reasoning.

 The mean score of ethical reasoning of nurses and nursing students was not significantly different. It seems indispensable to teach ethical principles, dilemmas, and ethical scenarios more seriously, continuously during the studentship course, at the beginning of employment, and afterward to improve moral reasoning.