Nurses' Views On Ethical Practices In Nursing Care: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

ABSTRACT
 Objectives: Nurses are required to make ethical decisions with the ethical principles of the nursing profession while making decisions in clinical practice. Therefore, it is very important to recognize and solve ethical problems. The purpose of this research is to learn in-depth the views of nurses about ethical practices and nurses' behavior towards individuals when giving care.
 Methods: A hermeneutic-phenomenological qualitative study was performed. Qualitative data were gathered through semi-structured in-depth interviews from March to November 2020, four hospital in Kocaeli. This qualitative study was carried out with the data collected in face-to-face in-depth interviews with the semi-structured questionnaire. Interviews were conducted with 40 nurses and each interview took 30–60 min. The obtained data were evaluated with the inductive content analysis method. 
 Results: Content analysis of the interview based on nurses' descriptions revealed four major themes. Themes: The meaning given to care ethics, difficulties encountered in nursing care, ethical values in nursing care and ethical approachs of hospital management. The nurses indicated level of care ethics knowledge was insufficient and they needed to receive comprehensive ethical care training from a qualified specialist. In addition, nurses' personal characteristics, religious and cultural values, and professional experiences were found to be factors affecting nursing care. It was also find that the support and motivation of nurses by their managers positively affected their care.
 Conclusion: In the interviews, nurses consider it necessary to provide care by paying attention to ethical behaviors in nursing care and practices for the development and professionalism of the profession, but they state that they do not have an idea about how this will be provided. It was determined that nurses thought that more attention should be paid to the importance and value of ethics in nursing interventions, and ethical practices in nursing care should be included in in-service training programs.