title: Reasons registered nurses report serious wrongdoings in a public teaching hospital.
abstract: This study examined reasons a registered nurse would report a wrongdoing within a public teaching hospital. Of a group of 238 initial respondents, 30% reported they had observed a wrongdoing in the past year, with 68 nurses indicating they had reported a wrongdoing in the past year. The latter group was the focus of this study. They indicated through a self-report survey that incidents threatening the well-being of patients and their professional ethics were more likely to be reported within their organizations. Observer anonymity was perceived to have a small, but important effect on nurses reporting a wrongdoing in this sample. A manipulation check of the initial 238 respondents revealed a very strong tendency for nurses to overlook a serious mistake by a close peer who had a reputation of being a "competent" nurse.
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Studies, Indiana University Southeast, 4201 Grant Line Road, New Albany, IN 47150, USA. gkingiii@ius.edu
authors.forename: Granville
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: King
authors.forename: Joseph N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Scudder
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006779:Hospitals, Public; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D015146:Midwestern United States; D028681:Moral Obligations; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000941:ethics*; D010379:Peer Group; D035642:Whistleblowing / Q000941:ethics*