Ethical values in nursing education: a literature review

Abstract

Introduction: Nursing begins with education and educational ethics guarantees the health the process of teaching and learning in the universities. Exact definition of the ethical values related to learning and education helps the students to receive the best education they deserve. Moreover, it also helps to recognize the status of science and dignity of the educators. This study was adopted in order to determine ethical values for nursing education in various countries. Materials and Methods: This literature review was conducted based on the Center for Reviews and Dissemination guidelines in 2016-17. The search of article in English was carried out in Medline, CINAHL, PubMed, Scopus, Ovid and Proquest databases. The search of article in Persian was conducted in databases of Magiran, SID, and Irandoc publication. After assessing and analyzing the obtain data, 14 articles were chosen and subjected to a thorough study. Results: The search led to the identification of 3 main competencies related to ethical values in nursing education, including personality competency, technical-professional competency, and socio-cultural competency. Discussion: Analysis of the literature related to ethical values in nursing education suggests that categorizing ethical values based the three aforementioned major competencies may provide a proper framework for the assessment of these values in different areas of education, research, and management in nursing education institutes and to evaluate their performance. However, considering the cultural diversity and prevailing philosophy in different societies, it is important to define these values clearly in the context of the target educational population.