Applying professional values: the perspective of nurses of Isfahan hospitals

Applying professional values is an important issue in nursing practice. It is also crucial to find out nurses' perspectives toward ethical and professional values in the clinical environment. For this purpose, we aimed to utilize a standard tool to survey perspectives on applying these values in nursing care in hospitals of Isfahan, Iran. This is a descriptive-analytical study in which 150 nurses working in hospitals of Isfahan, Iran in 2010 were recruited by quota convenience sampling, and their perspectives on professional values were assessed. Data were collected by the Nurses Professional Values Scale (NPVS) and analyzed using SPSS Software version 16 applying descriptive and interpretive statistics. In the present study, 84% of the participants were female and 88% had bachelor's degree in nursing. The average age was 34.2 (SD=7.3), and the average years of working in a hospital were 11 (SD=7.3). No significant association was present between demographic characteristics such as age, sex, educational level or work records and applying professional and ethical values. Results also demonstrated that respect for professional values is similar among nurses of different employment types. In this study, we addressed the most and the less important professional values specified by nurses with different types of employment and also different experiences. Iranian nurses believe in respecting the legal and ethical rights of patients as the most prominent value in the nursing profession. We suggest that these professional values be specified and assessed based on Iranian culture.