Morality in Perioperative Nurses

This study examined nurses' moral motivation, character, and action using a Model of Morality for Perioperative Nurses. Influences on moral actions and selected outcomes for surgical patients and perioperative nurses were examined. Results indicate that motivation and character are related directly to the moral actions of perioperative nurses (R = .13 to .31, P < .001). Fourteen percent of the variance in action was explained by motivation, character, self-perceived level of practice, and ethics education. Results suggest that current models do not describe the moral behavior of perioperative nurses adequately. Future research should examine constructs that explain the moral actions of nurses in the perioperative setting.