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GeNeDis 2020 pp 17–25Cite as

Greek Nurses’ Perception of Hospital Ethical Climate: A Cross-Sectional Study

Part of the Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology book series (AEMB,volume 1337)

Abstract

This study aimed to examine Greek nurses’ perceptions about hospital ethical climate and to investigate the possible difference of those perceptions regarding their demographic and work-related characteristics. The cross-sectional study design was employed in this study in which 286 nurses and nurse assistants participated. Data were collected by a sheet containing demographic and work-related characteristics and the Greek version of the Oslons’ Hospital Ethical Climate Scale. IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences 25 was used in data analysis. Frequencies, means, percentages, and standard deviations summarized the data. For the statistical differences, parametric tests were performed. Independent Samples t and Pearson correlation analysis were used to determine the relationship between the ethical climate of the hospital and the nurses’ characteristics. The p-values 0.05 were considered statistically significant. The mean age of the nurses was 44 years (SD: 8.5 years; range 24–66 years). The majority of them were women (77.3%). A percent of 57.7% of the sample was married. Most positive perceptions were concerning managers (4.01) following by peers (3.82), patients (3.69), hospitals (3.29) while the least positive perceptions of the ethical climate were concerning the physicians (3.16). The factors associated with hospital ethical perception were: working experience and responsible position. The highest score of ethical climate reported to managers subscale, while the minimum score was related to physicians. In general, Greek nurses reported positive perceptions regarding hospital ethical climate. The positive ethical climate is associated with a better working environment, fewer nurses’ experience of moral distress, fewer chances for nursing turnover, high quality of nursing care, and fewer errors in nursing practice.

Keywords

  • Nurses
  • Hospital ethical climate
  • Hospital environment

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank all the participants.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nursing Department, School of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly, Larissa, Greece

    Evangelos C. Fradelos

  2. Department of Social and Educational Policy, University of Peloponnese, Tripoli, Greece

    Dimitra Latsou

  3. Department of Nursing, University of West Attica, Athens, Greece

    Victoria Alikari

  4. Nursing Department, University of Thessaly, Larissa, Greece

    Ioanna V. Papathanasiou, Konstantinos Tsaras & Dimitrios Papagiannis

  5. PICU, University Hospital of Herakleion, Iraklio, Greece

    Aikaterini Roupa

  6. Department of Nursing, University Malaysia Sarawak, Sarawak, Malaysia

    Vincent Balang

  7. Nursing Department, University of Peloponnese, Tripoli, Greece

    Foteini Tzavella

Authors
  1. Evangelos C. Fradelos
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  2. Dimitra Latsou
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  3. Victoria Alikari
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  4. Ioanna V. Papathanasiou
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  5. Aikaterini Roupa
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  6. Vincent Balang
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  7. Konstantinos Tsaras
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  8. Dimitrios Papagiannis
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  9. Foteini Tzavella
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Evangelos C. Fradelos .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Informatics, Ionian University, Corfu, Greece

    Prof. Panayiotis Vlamos

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Fradelos, E.C. et al. (2021). Greek Nurses’ Perception of Hospital Ethical Climate: A Cross-Sectional Study. In: Vlamos, P. (eds) GeNeDis 2020. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 1337. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78771-4_3

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