Nurses' perceptions of the ethical climate existing in educational and medical centers

Background and Purpose: Organizational ethical climate (EC) refers to the shared perceptions of the ethical issues and the way of practicing these issues in the organization. Ethical values play an important role in the nurses' behavior; moreover, the performance of the nurses may be affected by the EC of the nursing sectors. Regarding this, the present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the nurses' perceptions of the EC in the training and medical centers of Hamedan University of Medical Sciences, Hamedan, Iran, in 2016.

Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out on 259 nurses, working at the training and medical centers of Hamedan University of Medical Sciences in 2016. The research instruments included a demographic form and the standard Ethical Climate Questionnaire.

Results: According to the results, the age range of the nurses was 24-60 years. The highest and lowest dimensions of the EC perceived by the nurses were the individual self-interest and global benevolence, rendering the mean values of 2.33±0.52 and 2.00±0.61, respectively. Additionally, the mean total EC was 2.10±0.27.

Conclusion: As the findings of the present study indicated, it is essential to strengthen the benevolence and ethical principles at the global level in the nursing organizations. This can be achieved through the codification of the relevant strategies in nursing. The role of middle nurse managers is very important in the promotion of the benevolence and ethical principles at the global level.