Current trends and obstacles in off-the-job nursing ethics training in Japanese hospitals: a cross-sectional study

This study aims to fill the existing gap by examining the current status of off-the-job nursing ethics training in large hospitals in Japan and its integration with on-the-job training to provide targeted insights for enhancing future ethics training.

A cross-sectional study was conducted among the nursing education staff of large Japanese hospitals [N=309] by self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire was the following main points 1) current trends in nursing ethics training 2) planners' concerns, and 3) the link between training and clinical practice. Descriptive statistics were used, closed-ended questions were analyzed through simple tabulations while open-ended questions underwent textual analysis.

The hospitals of 76.6% (309) conducted off-the-job nursing ethics training. Their training consists of a combination of lectures and exercises. The focus was to raise nurses' awareness of ethical problems or improve their analytical ability. The objectives were to be able to participate in discussions from an ethical perspective. The main problems were the lack of connection with on-the-job, and a shortage of training personnel.

The key to providing off-the-job and on-the-job is to create a mechanism for circulation. The implications of the results are the necessity of constructing ethics education in medicine to develop medical professionals who can discuss and act from ethical perspectives. Future research is expected to include the creation of a multidisciplinary ethics training program for the hospital.