Ethical concerns in the student/preceptor relationship: a need for change

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Bioethics
• Clinical Practice

Background:

• Nursing schools must equip students to identify and address ethical issues in clinical settings.
• A perceived disconnect exists between theoretical ethics education and practical application for nursing students.
• Preceptorship is explored as a potential strategy to bridge this gap in nursing ethics training.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate nursing students' ethical encounters within the preceptor-student relationship.
• To understand how ethical issues manifest in the clinical environment from the student perspective.
• To analyze the relationship between classroom ethics learning and clinical practice experiences.

Main Methods:

• An integrative review of nine articles was conducted.
• Gesler's (1992) concepts on the environmental influence of ethical issues were incorporated.
• Student perceptions of ethical problems in preceptor relationships were analyzed.

Main Results:

• Students frequently described ethical issues in their narratives, though rarely labeled them as such.
• The most common student response to these ethical challenges was silence.
• A significant disconnect persists between formal ethics education and students' lived clinical experiences.

Conclusions:

• Nursing students perceive and experience ethical issues in clinical settings, particularly with preceptors.
• Silence is a prevalent response, suggesting a failure in empowering students to act on ethical concerns.
• Further research and educational interventions are crucial to align nursing ethics education with clinical reality.