Hiong, Ling Sing
(2013)
Nurses’ knowledge, attitude and
practice towards
ethical decision making
in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at
Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Project Report.
Pusat Pengajian Sains Kesihatan, Universiti Sains Malaysia.
(Submitted)
Abstract
Ethical decision making helps people to make difficult choices when faced
with an ethical dilemma, a situation in which there is no clear right or wrong answer.
It is inherent in nursing practice. Nurses working in neonatal intensive care unit
(NICU) arc often confronted dilemmas concerning issues of patient care management
and ethical issues with life sustaining treatment decisions. Therefore, the aim of this
study was to investigate nurses' knowledge, attitude and practice of ethical decision
making in NICU, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (Hospital USM). A crossscctional
survey on nursing staff (n=56) in NICU, HUSM was conducted using a selfadministered
structured questionnaire. Data was analyzed using the Statistical
Package Social Science (SPSS) version 20.0. Nurses in the study had high knowledge
to the principle ethics (M= 11.50, SD= 1.31), high attitude (M= 26.73. SD= 3.15) and
satisfactory practice (M= 5.64. SD= 1.14). Chi square test revealed that there was no
association between age, marital status, highest education nursing level, years of
working experience and current position with knowledge and attitude. The finding
also showed that age of nurses (p=0.041) and years of working experience (p=0.041) were significantly associated with practice of the nurses. However the other socio demographic factors were no significant association with practice. The results of this
study can serve as the basic to facilitate continuous education and research on ethical
decision making among nurses. In conclusion, the study highlights the need to
identify professionals in the workforce who appear to be indifferent to ethical and legal issues, to devise means to sensitize them to these issues and appropriately
training them.
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