Purpose
This study aimed to identify the effects of clinical nurses' ethical climate and ethical nursing competence on moral distress.
Methods
The participants were clinical nurses who provided direct nursing care; nurses with more than one year of work experience in general hospitals were targeted. The data were collected between January 3 and 19, 2024, and analyzed using t-test, analysis of variance, Games-Howell test, Pearson correlation coefficient, and multiple regression.
Results
Moral distress was significantly and negatively correlated with ethical climate and ethical nursing competence. Factors affecting the moral distress of clinical nurses included having a position of charge nurse or higher, total clinical experience of more than 20 years, turnover intention from current job due to ethical issues, hospital sub factors of the ethical climate, and ethical behavior sub factors of ethical nursing competence, showing 27.0% explanatory power.
Conclusion
Establishing a positive ethical climate and improving ethical nursing competence providing opportunities for nurses to raise and solve ethical issues will contribute to resolving nurses' ethical conflicts and reducing moral distress.

Citations

• Influential factors of moral distress and job satisfaction on turnover intention of long-term care hospital nurses: A cross-sectional descriptive study
  Ningjie Liu, Sun Mi Ha
  Journal of Korean Gerontological Nursing.2025; 27(2): 216.     CrossRef

Purpose
This study was done to identify the mediating effect of biomedical ethics awareness in the relationship between moral sensitivity and perceived ethical confidence among nursing students. Methods Participants were 211 nursing students from 7 universities in G city. A self-report questionnaire was used to measure moral sensitivity, biomedical ethics awareness, and perceived ethical confidence. The data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficient analysis, and multiple regression analysis using Baron and Kenny's method. Results Moral sensitivity was significantly positively correlated with biomedical ethics awareness (r=.52, p<.001) and perceived ethical confidence (r=.60, p<.001). Biomedical ethics awareness was also significantly correlated with perceived ethical confidence (r=.50, p<.001). Also, biomedical ethics awareness (β=.25, p<.001) showed a partial mediating effect on the relationship between moral sensitivity and perceived ethical confidence. Conclusion The impact of moral sensitivity on perceived ethical confidence in nursing students was mediated by biomedical ethics awareness. Therefore, it is suggest that strategies for improving biomedical ethics awareness in nursing students should be considered when developing an educational program for enhancing their perceived ethical confidence.

Citations

• Assessing the relationship between ethical reasoning confidence and self-esteem among female nursing students for enhancing the quality of work life: A cross-sectional study
  Shaherah Yousef Andargeery, Sally Mohammed Farghaly Abdelaliem
  Medicine.2024; 103(14): e37614.     CrossRef
• Mediating effect of moral sensitivity on the relationship between nursing professionalism and ethical decision-making confidence in nursing students
  Bae-Hwa Kang, Hye-Young Cho
  The Journal of Korean Academic Society of Nursing Education.2023; 29(2): 180.     CrossRef
• The impact of nursing students’ biomedical and artificial intelligence ethical awareness, ethical values, and professional self-concept on their ethical decision-making confidence
  Seungmi Park, Insun Jang
  The Journal of Korean Academic Society of Nursing Education.2023; 29(4): 371.     CrossRef