ABSTRACT
High ethical reasoning ability is one of the main requirements of nursing profession. This ethical reasoning should be improved in nursing student during educational period. It should be further evolved during their independent clinical work as a nurse. Limited evidences are exist about the level of ethical reasoning of nursing students and nurses in Iran. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the ethical reasoning of nursing students and nurses in Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. This descriptive-comparative study was performed on 115 nursing students and 269 nurses who were selected by census. Nursing Dilemma Test NOT questionnaire was used for data collection. It consists of 6 scenarios. Ethical reasoning score [Nursing Principled Thinking NP] was the sum of scores of fifth and sixth levels of Kohlberg ethical development questionnaire. The scores varied from 18 to 66. The data were analyzed using SPSS and by descriptive and inferential statistics. Ethical reasoning score of nursing students [48.9 +/- 6.5; mean +/- SD] was significantly higher than the score of nurses [46.6 +/- 6.7] [p=0.02]. Also it was found that NP scores of nurses working in medical wards are significantly higher than scores of other wards nurses [p=0.02]. NP scores were declined by increasing of clinical experience [p= 0.04]. Lower NP scores of nurses comparing with NP scores of nursing students is an alarm for nursing managers and need a special attention