Attitudes and values of nurse educators: an international survey

Within the last two decades the holistic care of patients has become increasingly important to nurse practitioners and educators. This has led to a move from a wholly biological approach to care to one that requires greater moral reasoning and value judgments by practitioners. There is a significant body of literature suggesting that values developed by students throughout their education can be affected to varying degrees by the nurse educators to whom the student is exposed. Yet, there is a dearth of research into what the values held by such nurse educators may be. A questionnaire was distributed to nurse educators from nineteen different countries at an international conference. Overall, educators reported high regard for the values of honesty and intellectualism, whilst maintaining a more cautious, although still positive, attitude toward altruism in health care.