Ethical Problems of Registered Nurses and Social Workers

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Abstract

Nurses and social workers are vital members of our health care workforce. Faced with challenging ethical issues in practice, nurses and social workers routinely make difficult ethical decisions. This study is a survey of practicing nurses and social workers in 4 states (Masschusetts, Maryland, California, and Ohio) representing different regions of the U.S., to describe the ethical issues they face in their practice, the amount of conflict they experience, their work environment, ethics resources and support, and job satisfaction. The survey was conducted in the spring of 2004. A total of 1215 nurses and social workers responded. Respondents were mostly Caucasian (83.3%) and female (85.3%) with nurses were more likely than social workers to be female (p < .001); the overall mean age was 45.9 years (SD 10.9) range 23 to 78 years. Most of the social workers (83.3%) and 18.3% of the nurses had a masters education or higher. Respondents had a mean of 17 years of experience; 35% had practiced less than ten years (mean, 7.4 years); 71.7% worked full time. Nurses and social workers in our sample did not differ significantly in age, sex, or ethnicity compared to the 2000 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses and the 2004 Licensed Social Worker Survey in the U.S. Four manuscripts have been published to date. An additional two are in development. Future research is being planned to build on some of the findings from this study.