the Russia-Ukraine military conflict unfolded just across the eastern border of the European Union. It made everyone realize how important it is to secure blood supplies to health-care units in the event of an armed conflict. This paper presents the principles of functioning of the Military Blood Donation Service and the Military Center for Blood Donation and Hemotherapy in Poland. Methods:The study used data collected in the "Military Blood Bank" information processing system and data from annual reports (2010-2021) sent to the Minister of Health of the Republic of Poland. The reports concerned, among others: demographic data on donors, reasons of permanent disqualifications, numbers of complete and incomplete donations, etc. Results: Since 2005, the number of donors registered in military blood donation centers ranged between 15 and 35 thousand/year. The most dramatic declines in donors were observed in 2010 and 2020. Successful donations accounted for more than 98% of all donations/year (except 2015), and their number varied between 20 and 32 thousand/year. Among the blood donors, men always predominated and the dominant age group (except for 2010) was 25-44 years. The reasons for permanent disqualification have varied over time: their proportions decreased for viral hepatitis and cardiovascular disease, and increased for respiratory and endocrine/ metabolic diseases. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020/2021, these proportions have sometimes been reversed. Discussion: The Military Blood Donation Service has been functioning in Poland for several decades. It is specialized in supplying blood and blood products to the Armed Forces. Unfortunately, it was not possible to refer to the functioning of similar institutions in other countries. Therefore, when evaluating the functioning of Polish military blood donation, we had to rely on numerical values (eg, number of donors/year, donor profile, etc.), which prove a very good organization of blood donation centers. However, it should be noted that, as in other countries, a more active promotion of blood donation in the media is advisable in order to encourage as many young people as possible to donate blood.

The ethical climate reflects the principles and guidelines of an organisation. A positive ethical climate is characterised by a common vision of caring for work, in which the therapeutic team members inform and support each other, and which meets the needs of patients and their families. The aim of this study was to analyse nursing research on the hospital's ethical climate conducted with the Hospital Ethical Climate Survey (HECS) and to analyse factors which correlate and are related to nurses' work. A critical review of the literature from 1995 to 2021 was conducted with the following keywords: ethical climate, hospital ethical climate survey, HECS, and nurses. The hospital ethical climate correlates with nurses' moral sensitivity/courage/distress, job satisfaction, job burnout, and ethical leadership. This makes it possible to monitor and assess elements of the organisation climate and how they influence nurses' professional performance. This in turn helps nursing managers to develop strategies to promote better working conditions for nurses, improve job satisfaction, and prevent intent to change their workplace. StreszczenieKlimat etyczny odzwierciedla zasady i wytyczne organizacji. Pozytywny klimat etyczny charakteryzuje się wspólną wizją troski o pracę, w której zespół terapeutyczny wzajemnie się informuje i wspiera, odpowiada na potrzeby pacjentów i ich rodzin. Celem pracy była analiza badań pielęgniarskich dotyczących klimatu etycznego w szpitalu z zastosowaniem narzędzia badawczego Hospital Ethical Climate Survey (HECS), a także korelujących z nim czynników związanych z pracą pielęgniarek. Krytyczny przegląd dostępnego piśmiennictwa od 1995 do 2021 roku przeprowadzono według następujących słów kluczowych: klimat etyczny, badanie klimatu etycznego szpitala, HECS, pielęgniarki. Klimat etyczny szpitala koreluje m.in. z wrażliwością, odwagą, cierpieniem moralnym, satysfakcją z pracy, wypaleniem zawodowym, przywództwem etycznym. Umożliwia monitorowanie i ocenę elementów klimatu organizacyjnego oraz ich wpływu na wyniki zawodowe pielęgniarki. To natomiast daje menadżerom pielęgniarstwa narzędzia pozwalające na wdrożenie strategii promujących lepsze warunki pracy pielęgniarek, satysfakcję z pracy oraz zapobiega chęci odejścia z zawodu.

Background: The hospital ethical climate affects the quality of nursing care. A positive ethical climate is likely to reduce the proportion of those who consider leaving the profession, so it is necessary to develop tools which will enable assessment and analysis of the hospital ethical climate. The aim of this study was to examine selected psychometric properties of the Polish version of the Hospital Ethical Climate Survey, assess the hospital ethical climate perceived by nurses and midwives from Polish hospitals, and to determine its correlations with job-related variables. Methods: A cross-sectional study among 558 nurses and midwives working in hospitals in Poland. Results: The 21-item model showed acceptable model fitness between the hypothetical model of ethical climate and the data in the study. Five items with low factor loadings were removed from the study. The internal consistency was satisfactory (0.93). The mean score for the overall hospital ethical climate was 3.62. The highest mean score of hospital ethical climate in the present study was found in the ”peers” subscale and the lowest in the ”physicians” subscale. A positive correlation was found between overall hospital ethical climate and respondents’ satisfaction with work, salary, and working time. The hospital ethical climate was associated with problems found in nurses and midwives’ work, such as: limited time for direct face-to-face care, the lack of equipment and resources to provide high-quality health care, strained relations with hospital managers and other health care professionals, limitations to one’s own competences or those of other medical professionals, moral dilemmas related to patient care, the low prestige of nurses’/midwives‘ work, physical and mental burden, and the risk of making a mistake. Conclusion: The Polish 21-item version of the Hospital Ethical Climate Survey is a reliable tool. Correlations revealed that relationships with managers and physicians, and working conditions should be improved in order for the hospital ethical climate to improve.

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