Ethical issues in hospital-based nursing practice

Abstract

A professional nursing ethic is a living, dynamic set of standards for nurses' professional moral behavior. For a professional ethic to be adequate, it must address the ethical issues perceived as relevant to the profession. The purpose of this descriptive study was to identify the ethical issues hospital-based nurses face in their practice. The authors sought to determine whether there were any differences in these ethical issues over time or according to specialty practice, position, age, educational level, or years in practice. Different groups of nurses (N = 794) were surveyed on five separate occasions over 9 years. Data were analyzed using descriptive and chi 2 statistics. The most frequent ethical issue faced was pain relief and management. Over time, the percentage of nurses who reported being faced with ethical issues related to morphine drips increased. Implications for future research on development of a normative nursing ethic are discussed.