Professional values and ethical sensitivities of student nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Professional values in nursing are the foundation of ethical practice affecting patient care quality. AIM: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the development of professional values and ethical sensitivities among new nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: A prospective observational study with a pre-test and post-test design was used. The sample constituted students (n = 302). The Nurses Professional Values Scale-Revised and Modified Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire for Student Nurses were used for collecting data. RESULTS: Professional values post-test mean scores of participants were significantly higher than the pre-test scores (p < 0.001). No significant difference was determined between the pre-test and post-test mean scores of ethical sensitivity (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: The current study concluded that the professional values of newly graduated nurses developed during the COVID-19 pandemic, but there was no change in ethical sensitivities. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING AND HEALTH POLICY: This study provides one of the first pieces of evidence for nursing educators and managers to assess the professional values and ethical sensitivities of newly qualified nurses who may have been affected both during and after the outbreak. Newly qualified nurses should are valued members of the health care institutions, and orientation programmes should be implemented to improve their perceptions of the profession.

Comparison of the early development of the professional values for nursing students in the traditional program and the second-degree program: a longitudinal study.

AIM: This study aims to compare the early development of professional value between the students in the traditional programme (BSN) and those in the accelerated BSN (ABSN) programmes. DESIGN: A longitudinal design was conducted. METHODS: Data were collected from three schools of nursing during one academic year. A total of 117 BSN students and 101 ABSN students completed the survey of demographic information and the Nurses' Professional Values Scale-Revised questionnaires. All data were analysed by IBM SPSS-Statistics 22. RESULTS: Results showed that, in the beginning of the first professional nursing course, both students in the BSN and the ABSN programmes reported similar level of professional values. However, after one academic year, the changes in the professional value varied both between these two programmes and among the three different nursing schools. The increased professional value in school A represented the possibility for students to improve during their first-year professional nursing programme. As educators, we should redesign our teaching strategies according to the different conditions of students in each programme.

Career choice regret during COVID-19 among healthcare students and professionals in mainland China: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 epidemic affected the career choice of healthcare professionals and students. Career choice regret of healthcare professionals and students during COVID-19 outbreak and its affected factors are largely unexplored. METHODS: Convenience sample of nurses, doctors, and medical students were recruited from hospitals and universities nationwide. The data collected including demographic information, professional value before and after the COVID-19 outbreak, the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, and career choice regret level by an online questionnaire. Multinominal logistic regression was employed to explore the factors associated with career choice regret. RESULTS: In total, 9322 participants of convenience sampling were enrolled in, including 5786 nurses, 1664 doctors, and 1872 medical students. 6.7% participants had career choice regret. Multinominal logistic regression analysis showed, compared to participants with no regret, that as levels of psychological resilience increased, the odds of experiencing career choice regret decreased (OR = 0.95, 95% CI 0.94-0.96), while participants with lower professional value evaluation after the COVID-19 outbreak had higher probability to experience career choice regret (OR = 1.55,95% CI 1.50-1.61). Medical students were more likely to regret than nurses (OR = 1.65,95% CI 1.20-2.28), participants whose career/major choice was not their personal ideal had higher risk of experience career choice regret (OR = 1.59,95% CI 1.29-1.96), while participants who were very afraid of the coronavirus had higher risk to experience career choice regret then participants with no fear at all (OR = 2.00,95% CI 1.24-3.21). As for the medical students, results indicated that medical students major in nursing and undergraduates had higher risk to experience career choice regret compared to medical students major in clinical medicine and postgraduate (Master or PhD), with an odds ratios of 2.65(95% CI 1.56-4.49) and 6.85 (95% CI 2.48-18.91)respectively. CONCLUSIONS: A minority of healthcare professionals and medical students regretted their career choices during the COVID-19 outbreak. Enhance personal psychological resilience and professional value would helpful to reduce career choice regret among healthcare professionals and students during pandemic.