Heidari Tahereh, Jouybari Leila, Borhani Fariba, Sabzi Zahra
Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Golestan University of Medical Sciences, Gorgan, Iran.
Medical Ethics and Law Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
BMC Med Ethics. 2025 Jul 11;26(1):97. doi: 10.1186/s12910-025-01254-w.
Advances in science and technology have turned the modern healthcare system into a challenging environment with many ethical dilemmas. Internship nursing students experience many ethical issues in the clinical environment. The present study explored the experiences of Iranian internship nursing students in confronting ethical issues.
The present study is a qualitative inquiry with a conventional content analysis approach. A total of 15 internship nursing students (six females and nine males, semesters 7 and 8) were selected via purposive sampling with maximum variation from the nursing and midwifery faculty at Golestan University of Medical Sciences, northern Iran. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews over eight months. Graneheim and Lundman’s qualitative conventional content analysis approach was used for data analysis. MAXQDA version 2022 was utilized for data management. The trustworthiness of the data was ensured by four criteria given by Lincoln and Guba.
Qualitative data analysis led to 792 initial codes, which were reduced to 262 after removing duplicates. Subsequent analysis resulted in 7 sub-categories and 3 main categories, including “Insufficient Ethical Preparation,” “Inadequate Ethical Reasoning Skills,” and “An Ineffective Ethical Atmosphere in the Clinical Environment.” Ultimately, the main theme of “Limited Ethical Maturity of Students in Ethical Issues” was extracted.
Internship nursing students enter the educational environment with inadequate preparation and limited ethical maturity, which often leads to passive behavior when faced with ethical issues. Considering the non-educational clinical environment and the identified issues in the academic structure, reviewing the curriculum of professional ethics in nursing in Iran seems necessary.
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12910-025-01254-w.
科技的进步使现代医疗保健系统成为一个充满诸多伦理困境的具有挑战性的环境。实习护理学生在临床环境中会遇到许多伦理问题。本研究探讨了伊朗实习护理学生在面对伦理问题时的经历。
本研究是一项采用传统内容分析法的定性研究。通过目的抽样，从伊朗北部戈勒斯坦医科大学护理与助产学院选取了15名实习护理学生（6名女性和9名男性，7年级和8年级），以实现最大程度的多样性。数据通过为期八个月的半结构化访谈收集。采用格兰海姆和伦德曼的定性传统内容分析法进行数据分析。使用MAXQDA 2022版本进行数据管理。通过林肯和古巴提出的四个标准确保数据的可信度。
定性数据分析产生了792个初始代码，去除重复项后减少到262个。后续分析得出7个子类别和3个主要类别，包括“伦理准备不足”、“伦理推理技能不足”以及“临床环境中无效的伦理氛围”。最终，提取出了“学生在伦理问题上伦理成熟度有限”这一主题。
实习护理学生进入教育环境时准备不足且伦理成熟度有限，这在面对伦理问题时往往导致消极行为。考虑到非教育性的临床环境以及学术结构中发现的问题，似乎有必要对伊朗护理专业伦理课程进行审查。
在线版本包含可在10.1186/s12910-025-01254-w获取的补充材料。
