Investigation of intensive care nurses’ moral intelligence and their attitudes toward medical errors: a cross-sectional study

This study aims to determine the relationship between the moral intelligence of intensive care nurses and their attitudes towards medical errors. The study was designed as a descriptive, cross-sectional study. The study sample consisted of 158 nurses working in intensive care units at a university hospital. Data were collected using a personal information form and two scales: the Yakut Moral Intelligence Scale and the Attitude towards Medical Errors Scale. Descriptive statistics, an independent samples t-test, a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and a Pearson correlation analysis were used to analyse the data. The results showed that nurses’ attitudes towards medical errors were moderately high (mean score: 3.72 ± 0.70), and their moral intelligence scores were moderate (mean score: 79.53 ± 11.47). No significant differences were found according to gender or educational level ( p > .05). A strong positive significant correlation was found between moral intelligence and attitudes towards medical errors ( r = .850, p < .01). The findings suggest that higher moral intelligence is associated with more positive attitudes toward medical errors and may contribute to strengthening patient safety culture.