A Descriptive Study to Assess the Knowledge of Staff Nurses Regarding Ethico-Legal Aspects in Patient Care at Selected Hospital, Mangaluru

Abstract

Background of the Study: Ethics is a branch of modern philosophy related to concept of right and wrong. Ethics is especially essential for the nurse to deal with the most fundamental actions like birth, death and at the time of pain etc. Nurses must know their legal obligation as they have to update with the fast changing and advancing knowledge to provide appropriate nursing care. The best way for the nurse to avoid lawsuit is too aware about the nursing standard in practice.1 Objectives of the Study: The objectives of the study were: To assess the knowledge of staff nurses regarding ethico – legal aspects in patient care. To find the association of knowledge score with their selected socio demographic variables. Materials and Method: A descriptive study was conducted among 174 staff nurses who were working in a tertiary care hospital were selected by non probability convenient sampling technique. The data was collected using demographic proforma and structured knowledge questionnaire. Result: The study result showed that majority (42%) belonged to the age group of 26-30 years. Maximum number of samples were female (85.6%), most of the samples had B.Sc nursing (degree) qualification (60.3%), while 27.6% had 1 year of experience, majority of samples (31.6%) were working in medicine ward and 41.4% had previous information regarding ethical and legal aspects. The 55.74 % had average knowledge, and 40.8% had poor knowledge and 3.4% had good knowledge. There was a significant association was found between level of knowledge and selected demographic variables such as gender and source of information. Conclusion: The study concluded that there is a need to improve the level of knowledge of staff nurse regarding ethico - legal responsibilities for better patient care. Nurses need to improve knowledge by conducting educational programmes.