International Journal of Nursing Education and Research.

8(1): January - March, 2020

ISSN 2347-8640 (Print) Available online at

2454-2660 (Online) www.anvpublication.org
DOI:
International Journal of Nursing Education
Vol. 08 |Issue-01|
January – March| 2020 and Research
Home page www.ijneronline.com

RESEARCH ARTICLE

A Descriptive Study to Assess the Knowledge on Legal and Ethical aspects

of nursing among outgoing and Final year BSc nursing students at Sacred
Heart Nursing College, Madurai
Mrs. Sakthi Bharathi. N1, Ms. Ignesh Prabha. A2
1
Asst. Professor, Department of Medical Surgical Nursing, Sacred Heart Nursing College, Madurai.
2
Nursing Tutor, Department of Medical Surgical Nursing, Sacred Heart Nursing College, Madurai.
*Corresponding Author E-mail:

ABSTRACT:
Ethical considerations are vital in any area dealing with human beings because they respect values, rights and
relationships. Nurses are obligated to provide ethical and legal client care that demonstrates respect for others 5.
This study aimed to assess the knowledge on legal and ethical aspects of nursing among outgoing and final year
BSc nursing students. Quantitative approach and descriptive design was selected for the study. Convenience
sampling technique was used to select the samples and 80 samples were selected. The data was collected based
on structured knowledge questionnaire on legal and ethical aspects of nursing. Analysis of the data was done by
employing descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings revealed that among 80 students 17(21.25%) had
adequate knowledge, 24(30%) had moderate and 39(48.75%) had inadequate knowledge and there is an
association between the level of knowledge and previous awareness of legal and ethical aspects of nursing.

KEYWORDS: Knowledge, Legal and ethical aspects, Nursing students.

INTRODUCTION: It is important for nursing students to have knowledge

Nurses play a pivotal role in the healthcare team, being regarding health care ethics which practically applies
involved in various aspects like clinical care, research their critical thinking skills while providing care to the
and medical education. It is essential for nurses to be patient. Yet, nursing graduates with less experience are
aware of the ethical practices for effective patient care. not consistently having knowledge about ethics and lack
Nowadays, there has been growing public concern of critical thinking skills. This lacking is due to their
regarding the ethical conduct of healthcare professionals. nursing curriculum focusing on the accumulation of
This is often reflected as complaints about poor ethical knowledge rather than the application of knowledge to
conduct and an increasing use of litigation against health real situation.
care practitioners including nurses. These matters have
also included ethical issues that faced by nurses such as Education about ethics provide nurses as well as student
obtaining informed consent, patient’s confidentiality, nurses with tools to reflect critically on their care
autonomy and end of life issues. Many issues regarding practice and the application of codes of ethics can also
unethical behaviour or poor ethical conduct arises due to help during their clinical practices. Today, nursing ethics
lack of education about health care ethics.7 in education has immense competition with an already
content filled nursing program regulated by state and
national accrediting bodies.6
Received on 18.07.2019 Modified on 20.08.2019
Accepted on 17.09.2019 © A&V Publications all right reserved
Int. J. Nur. Edu. and Research. 2020; 8(1):
DOI:

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 International Journal of Nursing Education and Research. 8(1): January - March, 2020

Need for the study: OBJECTIVES:

Nursing profession requires knowledge of ethics to guide The objectives of the study are:
performance. Nursing ethics is professional ethics of 1. Assess the level of knowledge of nursing students
care. The nature of this profession necessitates ethical regarding legal and ethical aspects of nursing.
care m ore than routine care. Ethical concepts are one of 2. Determine the association between knowledge
the basic elements in this profession and the important regarding legal and ethical aspects of nursing and
indicator of its patient [6]. Ethics is a systematic study of selected socio demographic variables.
what person's conduct and actions should be with regard
to oneself, other humans, and environment, also refers to Hypothesis:
principles that guide a person's actions in regard to right H1-There will be significant association between
and wrong and in regard to society at large. Ethical knowledge regarding legal and ethical aspects of nursing
principles provide a foundation for nursing practice and and selected socio demographic variables.
basis for nurses' decisions on consideration of the
Review of Literature:
consequences and of the universal moral principles when
A descriptive study conducted by Princy Koshy in
making clinical judgments.2
Madhya Pradesh on knowledge regarding legal and
ethical concepts in care of children among staff nurses.
A study conducted in 2016 by a Supreme Court advocate
Survey approach, non experimental descriptive research
Mahendra Kumar Bajpai in Nagpur who specialises in
design was used, by non probability randomized
medical law, showed a 110 per cent rise in number of
sampling technique 100 staff nurses were selected and
medical negligence cases in India every year. The study
knowledge was assessed by structured questionnaire.
also revealed that 90 per cent of all cases in medical
The study revealed that 9% of staff nurses are having
negligence involve hospitals, and 12 per cent of all the
poor knowledge, 36% are having average knowledge,
cases decided by consumer courts are on medical
51% are having good knowledge and 4% are having
negligence. Between 60 to 66 per cent of the filed cases
excellent knowledge regarding legal and ethical
are because of hospitals taking improper consent from
concepts.5
relatives before performing certain procedures or
switching hospitals, or improper documentation Ashalata Devi, conducted a Cross sectional descriptive
throughout the course of diagnosis and treatment. 4 study regarding “nurses awareness on legal and ethical
responsibilities in nursing among 101 nurses of Manipal
A survey by the American Nurses Association (ANA) Teaching Hospital, Nepal. Out of 101 nurses, maximum
Centre for Ethics and Human Rights at the ANA (58.4%) of the nurses had inadequate knowledge
Convention in 1994 reported that as high as 79% of their regarding legal and ethical responsibility in nursing.
members were confronted with ethical issues on daily to There was no significant association between the
weekly basis. To provide quality care and avoid liability, Knowledge score and selected variables like age,
the nurse needs to be familiar with various consumer education, professional qualification and work
rights in health care system. It is vital to know the laws experience. The study finding revealed that nurses were
protecting the patient and the health care deliverer in this lacking knowledge on legal and ethical responsibility in
regard and also to be aware of the legal status as nursing which is one of the most important aspects of
registered nurses.3 nursing practice. There is need to improve the
knowledge of the nurses on legal and ethical
The researcher personally experienced few ethical issues
responsibility so that they can improve their practices
during their clinical posting by the nurses as well as
and uplift the quality nursing services and effective
nursing students, mostly related to medication errors and
nursing care that leads to patient’s satisfaction.1
showing negligence in some procedures, to avoid such
incidences in future, the researcher felt that it needs to be MATERIALS AND METHODS:
started from the student nurses. So, they may develop Research Design:
more critical thinking and judgement skill to handle the In this study the researcher used a quantitative approach
situation. and descriptive design.
Statement of the problem: Setting:
A descriptive study to assess the knowledge on legal and This study was conducted at Sacred Heart Nursing
ethical aspects of nursing among outgoing and final year College, Madurai, Tamilnadu.
BSc nursing students at Sacred Heart Nursing College,
Madurai. Population:
The target population was outgoing and final year BSc
nursing students.

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 International Journal of Nursing Education and Research. 8(1): January - March, 2020

Sample: and Ethical aspects of nursing?

Outgoing and Final year BSc nursing students. Yes 64 80
No 16 20
Sample Size:
Sample size was 80. Table 2: Subject wise Frequency and percentage distribution of
level of knowledge on legal and ethical aspects of nursing.
Level of knowledge Score Frequency (f) Percentage
Sampling Technique: (%)
The researcher adopted convenience sampling technique. Inadequate 0-10 39 48.75
Average 11-20 24 30
Tools and Techniques: Adequate 21-30 17 21.25
The tool consists of following sections
1. Socio Demographic profile:
It consists of five items such as age, gender, previous
awareness on ethical aspects and have you attended any
conferences.

2. Structured knowledge questionnaire:

It consists of thirty items; all the items were multiple
choice questions. Each question has four options, score
of 1 was allotted for each correct answer and score zero
was allotted for each incorrect answers.

Data collection process: Figure 1: Subject wise Frequency and percentage distribution of
To conduct research study formal permission was level of knowledge on legal and ethical aspects of nursing N= 80.
obtained from the college authority and the ethical
committee. After accepting the permission the following Table 3: Association between the levels of knowledge with their
selected socio demographic variables. (N=80).
steps were taken up: Demographic character Above Below Chi square
• Step 1-Researchers introduced themselves and mean mean value
explains the purpose of the research study to the Age (in years)
subjects. 18-21 16 51 1.17#
22-25 5 8 Df=1
• Step 2–Administration of Socio Demographic Gender
Proforma and Self-structured questionnaire on Male 5 14 0.015#
knowledge regarding legal and ethical aspects of Female 17 44 Df=1
nursing. Previous Awareness
• Step 3 - Collection of data. Yes 20 44 4.10*
No 1 15 Df=1
• Step 4 - Analysis of collected data. *Significant at 0.05 level # Not significant at 0.05 level

Data Analysis: DISCUSSION:

Data analysis was done by using descriptive and Findings of the present study show that majority of the
inferential statistics methods. subjects 48.75% had inadequate knowledge, 30% had
average knowledge and 21.25% had adequate
RESULTS: knowledge.
Table 1: Major findings of frequency and Percentage distribution
of subjects with regard to selected socio demographic variables Findings of the present study are similar with the study
(N=80). conducted by Thirunavukkarasu M.R and Velmurugan.
Variables Frequency (f) (%)
AGE (In years)
A, in Kerala aim to assess the knowledge regarding law
18-19 3 3.75 and ethics in nursing showed that majority of
20-21 64 80 participants 78% had inadequate knowledge, nearly 7%
22-23 13 16.25 of them had moderate knowledge and only 4% of them
24-25 0 0 had adequate knowledge.7
GENDER
Male 19 23.75 CONCLUSION:
Female 61 76.25
Have you attended any conference The findings of the study have shown that the knowledge
on Legal and ethical aspects of of the students regarding legal and ethical aspects of
nursing? nursing is average. Hence the study concludes that more
Yes 16 20 importance to be given on legal and ethical aspects of
No 64 80
nursing to the future nurses.
Had previous awareness on legal

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 International Journal of Nursing Education and Research. 8(1): January - March, 2020

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