Exploring the relationship between facilitating factors and adherence to nursing ethical standards

Area of Science:

• Nursing Ethics
• Healthcare Professionalism

Background:

• Professional ethics is crucial in nursing, impacting service quality and patient satisfaction.
• Assessing nurses' adherence to ethical codes and identifying facilitating factors is essential for improving healthcare standards.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate nurses' compliance with professional ethical codes.
• To investigate the relationship between compliance and factors that facilitate it within a hospital setting.

Main Methods:

• A descriptive-analytical, cross-sectional study involving 312 nurses in southern Iran.
• Data collected via questionnaires assessing ethical code compliance and facilitating factors.
• Statistical analysis included t-tests, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation, and multiple linear regression.

Main Results:

• Nurses' mean compliance score was 127.94/170 (acceptable), and facilitating factors score was 98.31/180 (moderate).
• Nurse, patient, and management factors significantly predicted ethical code compliance (p < 0.001).
• Compliance varied significantly by gender, marital status, education, and patient load; female nurses reported higher facilitating factor scores.

Conclusions:

• Nurses' adherence to professional ethical codes is acceptable, supported by moderate facilitating factors.
• Enhancing factors that facilitate ethical compliance is key to improving nurses' adherence to professional standards.
• Targeted interventions focusing on identified predictors can elevate ethical practice in nursing.