Teaching Ethics in Classroom Settings: Nursing Faculty Perceptions in Baccalaureate Programs

Background: The complexity of the current health care system has resulted in increasing demands on nurses to act as patient advocates and moral agents. Understanding faculty's experiences teaching ethics is instrumental to deliver ethically competent care. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of nursing faculty teaching ethics content in the classroom setting to prelicensure baccalaureate nursing students. Method: This qualitative, descriptive phenomenological design asked 11 nursing faculty with recent experience teaching ethics within prelicensure baccalaureate nursing programs to complete qualitative interviews. Results: Participants expressed the importance of teaching ethics in undergraduate nursing curricula but experienced significant challenges. Three main themes were identified in the data analysis: Lacking Prior Preparation, Difficult Content, and No Place Holder for Ethics Content. Conclusion: Intentional curriculum design incorporating ethics content is necessary for the preparation of prelicensure nursing students, along with formal and informal opportunities for faculty to explore ethics including philosophical underpinnings.