EXAMINING THE ETHICAL COMPETENCE (EC) OF NURSING STUDENTS

Abstract

Introduction: Ethical care in nursing services is very important and professional EC in nursing ethics means nursing care based on bioethics standards. However, so far, some important questions have remained unanswered in the area of ethical care and ECs in nursing students. Nursing ethics seems to need more studies and efforts in the field of teaching this issue to achieve this. In this paper, we have tried to examine the importance and status of training nursing ECs and the barriers to their acquisition among nursing students so as to identify the challenges and needs of ethical care education to enhance the ECs of future nurses and pave the ground for further studies in this regard. Methodology: this study used thematic qualitative content analysis. We selected 15 nursing experts and teachers and 35 nursing students as the participants by targeted sampling method and used structured interviews to collect data. Results: The results of the study were divided into four areas after analysis including clinical environment, curriculum, teachers having scientific competence in the field of professional ethics, and motivation and interest of students in nursing profession. Conclusion: the results showed that both background and individuals are effective in developing ECs of nursing students. Thus, the barriers to obtaining ECs should be sought in various aspects.