The Differences of Nurses' Perception of the Code of Ethics, Degree of Application of Nursing Ethics and Biomedical Ethical Consciousness according to Nursing Students' Clinical Practice Experience, Ethical Values and Biomedical Ethics Education

Abstract

Purpose: This study was conducted to investigate the differences of the Code of Ethics, level of application of the Code of Ethics and consciousness of biomedical ethics of nurses about clinical practice experience, ethical values and biomedical ethics education experience of nursing students. Methods: A descriptive research design, t-test and one-way ANOVA were used. The data were collected 1st June to 31st August 2016 from two large cities. The participants were 246 nursing students with a mean age of 22.57 years. Among them, 209 (84.6%) were female, 94 (38.2%) had clinical practice experience, 155 (63.0%) listed their ethical value as different depending on the situation, and 127 (51.6%) had biomedical ethics education experience. Results: The scores were: awareness of the Code of Ethics of Nurses $4.29{pm}0.60$; application of the Code of Ethics of Nurses $4.24{pm}0.6$4; and consciousness of biomedical ethics $2.91{pm}0.19$. There were significant differences in application of the Code of Ethics of Nurses (t=-1.97, p=.050); consciousness of biomedical ethics (t=-2.25, p=.025) related to clinical practice experience; and consciousness of biomedical ethics related to biomedical education experience (t=2.67, p=.007). Conclusion: Clinical practice and biomedical ethics education experience contributed to enhance the level of application of the Code of Ethics of Nurses and consciousness of biomedical ethics of nursing students.