CONFIDENTIALITY AND PATIENT PRIVACY AWARENESS AMONG NURSING STUDENTS ETHICAL DILEMMAS FACED BY NURSING STUDENTS DURING CLINICAL PRACTICE

Abstract

Background: Organizations like the International Council of Nurses emphasize that patient privacy and confidentiality are essential ethical standards in nursing practice. During their clinical training, nursing students are routinely exposed to real-life scenarios where these principles must be applied, which frequently results in moral conundrums. The aim of the study was to assess the level of awareness regarding confidentiality and patient privacy among nursing students and to explore the ethical dilemmas they face during clinical practice. Methods: A purposive sample technique was used to perform a quantitative cross-sectional research of 195 nursing students at chosen institutes in Pakistan. A systematic questionnaire comprising an ethical dilemmas scale and a confidentiality awareness measure was used to gather data. IBM SPSS Statistics version 25 was used to analyze the data. The significance level was established at p < 0.05, and both descriptive and inferential statistics were used. Results: The results showed that 11.3% of students had low understanding of patient privacy and confidentiality, 46.7% had moderate awareness, and 42.1% had high awareness. 45.1% reported moderate, 39.0% high, and 15.9% low levels of ethical difficulties. There was a statistically significant correlation (p = 0.032) between ethical dilemmas and consciousness. Higher awareness was linked to somewhat fewer ethical conundrums, according to a modest negative association (r = -0.28). Conclusion: Nursing students encountered significant ethical conundrums during clinical practice, despite their moderate to high awareness of patient privacy and confidentiality. To close the gap between knowledge and practice, it is crucial to improve clinical supervision, strengthen ethics teaching, and foster supportive learning settings.