Introduction:
 




J Educ Ethics Nurs 2020;8(3&4):30-36
 




Moral sensitivity is a combination of one's awareness of dimensions such as being responsible and attention to ethical issues that are necessary for ethical action. Enhancing experience alone does not increase moral sensitivity; instead it should be accompanied by learning and knowledge development. On the other hand, considering the impact of the educational environment and the hidden curriculum on the development of professional features of medical students, we aimed to compare the ethical sensitivity of nurses working at teaching hospitals and nursing students.
Method and Materials:
In this cross-sectional study, 82 senior nursing students in undergraduate level and 123 nurses working in teaching hospitals were involved after obtaining informed consent. To collect data, Luetzen's moral sensitivity questionnaire was used. Data were analyzed using SPSS 16 software.
Results:
123 nurses with mean age of (35.02±6.44) and 82 nursing students with mean age of (20.88±0.80) completed the questionnaire. The mean score of moral sensitivity of nursing students and professional nurses was 61.74 ± 9.74 and 62.41 ± 8.77, respectively, and there was no significant difference between them (P=0.416). The mean score of moral sensitivity with demographic characteristics was not significantly correlated.
Conclusion:
Most nurses and students were at moderate moral sensitivity. Considering the interplay of nurses' ethical approaches to quality of care services and their role modeling of students, strengthening this issue through retraining nurses and quality supervision on nurses' professional practices and emphasizing this issue in nursing students' education should be considered.