Nurses' perception of ethical climate at a large academic medical center.
BACKGROUND
Nurses are confronted daily with ethical issues while providing patient care. Hospital ethical climates can affect nurses' job satisfaction, organizational commitment, retention, and physician collaboration.


OBJECTIVE
At a metropolitan academic medical center, we examined nurses' perceptions of the ethical climate and relationships among ethical climate factors and nurse characteristics.


METHODS
We used a descriptive correlational design and nurses ( N = 475) completed Olson's Hospital Ethical Climate Survey. Data were analyzed using STATA. Ethical considerations: Approvals by the Nursing Research Council and Institutional Review Board were obtained; participants' rights were protected.


RESULTS
Nurses reported an ethical climate total mean score of 3.22 ± 0.65 that varied across factors; significant differences were found for ethical climate scores by nurses' age, race, and specialty area.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings contribute to what is known about ethical climate and nurses' characteristics and provides the foundation to develop strategies to improve the ethical climate in work settings.
The University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC), USA.
Donna
D
Lemmenes
The University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC), USA.
Pamela
P
Valentine
The University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC), USA.
Patricia
P
Gwizdalski
The University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC), USA.
Catherine
C
Vincent
The University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC), USA.
Chuanhong
C
Liao
D000046:Academic Medical Centers / Q000458:organization & administration*; D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D004991:Ethics, Institutional; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015279:Organizational Culture; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
Ethical climate; Hospital Ethical Climate Survey; ethical climate factors; nurse characteristics; nurses’ perceptions