Observance of ethical codes of midwifery profession in students and graduates of department of midwifery and reproductive health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences

Abstract

BACKGROUND:Ethical performance is one of the main components of maternal and fetal care. Nurturing and training students who meet professional ethics in midwifery is of utmost importance. It is essential to assess the level of adherence of students and graduates to the codes of ethics in order to determine the extent of education needs in this regard. Therefore, the present research aims to draw a comparison between the level of adherence to codes of ethics between midwifery students and graduates in the fields of midwifery and reproductive health department at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. MATERIALS AND METHOD:This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in 2021-2022 on 93 midwifery students and 107 graduate midwives of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. It is crucial to note that the study included all-year midwifery students. The data collection tools included a demographic questionnaire and one more questionnaire to assess adherence to the codes of ethics, which were made available to participants through Google Forms. Data were analysed using SPSS software statistics version (SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA). A significance level of 0.05 was considered significant for all tests. RESULTS:The mean adherence to codes of ethics was 79.01 +/- 14.80 for the students and 79.07 +/- 14.55 for the graduate midwives. There was a significant difference in the overall mean score of adherence to the codes of ethics, professional commitments, and self-communication between the two groups of students and graduates (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION:Although ethics is addressed in midwifery education programs, it is required to put considerable emphasis on teaching codes of professional ethics to both the students and graduates. Additionally, an educational and clinical setting is required to identify errors and their causes so that it can help take steps towards adhering to codes of ethics.