A Study of the Ethical Values of Korean Nurses

Sung, Mi Hae

Abstract

The purse of this to identify whether ethical values of Korean nurses are deontological or utilitarian. Nurse's ethical value questionnaire was developed from review of the literature and inter view of nurses in the clinical settings. Ethical problems are categorized into four areas 1) human life 2) nurse-patient relationship 3) nurse-nursing task relationship 4) nurse-collegue relationship. The data were obtained from 250 nurses in the clinical settings from Jun. to July in 1998 using the ethical value questionnaire developed by Lee(1990). The analysis of data was done by Pearson's correlation coefficient, t-test and anova. The results of this study were as follows: 1. The ethical values of human life slightly took up the position of utilitarian. 2. The ethical value of nurse-patient relationship slightly took up deontological position. 3. The ethical value of nurse-nursing task relationship slightly took up the deontological position. 4. The ethical value of nurse-collegue relationship greatly took up the deontological position. 5. The ethical values of nurses related to demographic characteristics of age, marital status, position. Therefore it is suggested that new strategies and continuing education programs be established to help clinical nurses formulate higher ethical values.