Being a professional nurse requires ethical decision making and this in turn necessitates an effective learning process. The active participation of students in the teaching of ethics will contribute to this process. This study was conducted at Hacettepe University School of Nursing, Ankara, Turkey, to determine the views of students about the nursing ethics content in the curriculum, the examination system, and some educational characteristics of the teachers responsible for the course. The sample comprised 113 students who participated voluntarily. In general, the students expressed a positive view relating to the course content and the teachers. The majority stated that the discussions on case study analysis by using ethical principles, rights, legal aspects and the use of the International Council of Nurses Code of Ethics were very useful in developing ethical decision-making skills. We believe that the results of this study will enhance our efforts in amending this course and improving the ethical decision-making skills of our students.

Aims:This study was carried out to determine the effects of open and closed suction systems on haemodynamic parameters of the patients who underwent open heart surgery. Background: Nurses should work meticulously and carefully as many complications may develop if the method used to perform suctioning is not appropriate. Design: The quasi-experimental study design was used. Method: The study sample comprised 120 patients who underwent open heart surgery in the cardiovascular surgery intensive care unit of a state hospital in Turkey. Haemodynamic parameters were determined just before, right after, at the 5th and 15th minute after suctioning. The data were evaluated with the One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) for Repeated Measures, independent t-test and Bonferroni's test for further analysis (post hoc). Results:The difference between heart rate (HR) and mean blood pressure, mean PaO 2 and PaCO 2 , SaO 2 and pH values measured before, right after and at the 5th and 15th minute after suctioning was found to be significant in patients who underwent the open suctioning procedure. It was determined that the difference between mean PaO 2 values was not significant and that SaO 2 versus SpO 2 values increased in patients who underwent the closed suctioning procedure. When the open and closed suction systems were compared, statistically significant difference was determined in terms of MAP, SpO 2 . Conclusion: It was determined that HR, arterial blood pressure and arterial blood gases of the patients who underwent open heart surgery were negatively affected by the open suction system but did not increase significantly as soon as suctioning was over during the closed suctioning procedure. The data obtained indicate that closed system suctioning, compared with open system suctioning, can be used safely on this patient group. Relevance to clinical practice: The closed suction system is recommended since it contributes to the enhancement of patient safety and the quality of nursing care.

This descriptive study investigated the current status of ethics instruction in Turkish nursing education programs. The sample for this study comprised 39 nursing schools, which represented 51% of all nursing schools in Turkey. Data were collected through a postal questionnaire. The results revealed that 18 of these nursing schools incorporated an ethics course into undergraduate and three into graduate level programs. Most of the educators focused on the basic concepts of ethics, deontological theory, ethical principles, ethical problems in health care, patient rights and codes of ethics for nurses. More than half of the educators believed that students' theoretical knowledge of ethics is applied to their clinical experiences. The teaching methods used included discussion in class, lectures, case studies, small group discussion, dramatization and demonstration. Assessment was carried out by means of written essays and written examinations.

The development of open and closed system suctioning standard practice guidelines directly contributed to the enhancement of patient safety and the quality of nursing care. It is suggested that, as in other nursing care practices, suctioning should be carried out in accordance with standard practice guidelines, and health institutions should develop their standard practice guidelines and work in accordance with them.

No abstract