Implications for values education in health care systems: An exploratory study of nurses in practice

This exploratory-correlational study sought relationships between seven essential values, twelve educational characteristics (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 1986), and the ten carative factors of Watson (1985) from her theory of caring. The ratings of 226 nurses in practice at an urban midwestern hospital were gathered by a researcher-designed instrument. The respondents were grouped into three definitive groups: Group I, N = 52 (nursing degrees); Group II, N = 10 (non-nursing degrees); and Group III, N = 164 (ADs, less than four years, no degrees, diploma). The demographic data revealed that the respondents were typical of the nursing staff in a similar hospital. Group II nurses (non-nursing degrees) rated the twelve educational characteristics significantly higher in both Importance and Competence to fulfill those characteristics. The twelve characteristics were found to have predictive value for the seven essential values and the ten carative factors. The researcher-designed instrument was found to be valid for both face validity and construct validity which rendered the instrument internally consistent. Increased patient care technology did not in itself significantly create more value conflicts and ethical dilemmas among respondents. The respondents, however, perceived patient care technology to be a part of the feedback loop that influenced their abrogation of patient values. The data revealed that nursing education prepared the respondents for coping with values conflict and ethical dilemmas only to a slight or moderate degree. Self-report examples of value conflicts and ethical dilemmas clustered around the patient\u27s right to die without external life-support measures. The respondents supported the idea of continuing education and values education for interdisciplinary staff resolution of value conflicts and dilemmas of real patient care cases