A Comparison of the Effects of In-Person and Virtual Narrative Ethics Training on Nurses’ Respect for the Patient's Privacy

 Privacy is one of the essential human needs and respecting the patient' territory is one of the important duties of nurses. Most patients are not aware of their rights and nurses’ awareness and performance regarding the patient's privacy is at a moderate level in different hospitals. On the other hand, providing training programs for nurses leads to the promotion of respect for patients' privacy and their satisfaction. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of comparing the effects of in-person and virtual narrative ethics training on nurses’ respect for the patient’s privacy.

 This quasi-experimental three-group study was conducted on 93 nurses working at three internal wards of Imam Reza Hospital in Mashhad. The samples were selected using the random sampling method, through a lottery. Nurses of each ward were invited to participate in the study based on the inclusion criteria and using convenience sampling method. The instruments used in the study included a patient privacy questionnaire and a demographic information form. In the first intervention group, the nurses were divided into five groups and three one-hour in-person sessions were held for each group. In these sessions, standard narratives of the dimensions of privacy were presented. In the second intervention group, the nurses received training on privacy through a virtual messaging network. No training was provided to the control group. The patient privacy questionnaire was completed by all three groups both before the intervention and one month after it. The data were analyzed with SPSS2 using descriptive statistical tests, Wilcoxon and paired t-test.

Ethical Considerations:

 The present study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences (IR.MUMS.REC.1398.079).

 Before the intervention, there was no significant difference in the mean and the standard deviation of respect for privacy among the three groups (P=0.952). After the intervention, the mean and the standard deviation of respect for privacy had increased in both in-person and virtual training groups compared to the control group (P<0.001). The study findings showed that there was no significant statistical difference between in-person and virtual training (P=0.256).

 The findings of the present study showed that in-person and virtual narrative ethics training have similar effects on the respect for the patient's privacy. Therefore, in situations where it is not possible to hold in-person sessions, the necessary training on patient privacy can be provided virtually.