Swedish and Chinese nurses' conceptions of ethical problems: a comparative study.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate Swedish and Chinese nurses' conceptions of ethical problems and workplace stress and ascertain whether there are differences between the nurses in the two countries and between types of clinics.


BACKGROUND
Nursing can be regarded as an ethical practice and ethical problems are one type of problems nurses have to deal with.


METHODS
The research design was comparative and quantitative.


METHODS
A questionnaire was used. The study was carried out at one hospital in China and two hospitals in Sweden. One hundred and thirty-six Chinese nurses and 137 Swedish nurses participated.


RESULTS
There was a statistical difference between nurses working in the different countries regarding commonest stated ethical problem. The Swedish nurses indicated a greater number of ethical problems than the Chinese nurses. The latter felt irritated, dissatisfied or sad at work or after work more often than the Swedish nurses. Forty-one per cent of the nurses in both countries thought there was a modest or rather big difference between the current and the desired quality of nursing.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings were partially the same in the two countries and this underlines the importance of looking at ethical problems from an organisational perspective.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings also show the need for a reduction of nurses' workload as well as the importance of assuring that nurses have the knowledge they need to carry out their work. The communication between nurses and other members of the health-care team, patients and relatives also needs to be improved.
School of Health Sciences, Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden. marit.silen@hhj.hj.se
Marit
M
Silén
Ping Fen
PF
Tang
Gerd
G
Ahlström
D002681:China; D004993:Ethics, Nursing; D006801:Humans; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden