A Descriptive Study to Assess the Knowledge on Legal and Ethical aspects of nursing among outgoing and Final year BSc nursing students at Sacred Heart Nursing College, Madurai

Ethical considerations are vital in any area dealing with human beings because they respect values, rights and relationships. Nurses are obligated to provide ethical and legal client care that demonstrates respect for others⁵. This study aimed to assess the knowledge on legal and ethical aspects of nursing among outgoing and final year BSc nursing students. Quantitative approach and descriptive design was selected for the study. Convenience sampling technique was used to select the samples and 80 samples were selected. The data was collected based on structured knowledge questionnaire on legal and ethical aspects of nursing. Analysis of the data was done by employing descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings revealed that among 80 students 17(21.25%) had adequate knowledge, 24(30%) had moderate and 39(48.75%) had inadequate knowledge and there is an association between the level of knowledge and previous awareness of legal and ethical aspects of nursing.