Ethical conflicts reported by registered nurse certified diabetes educators: a replication

The purpose of this study was to identify types of ethical conflicts report ed by certified diabetes educators who are also registered nurses (RN/CDEs) and to examine their relationship with demographic, educational and practi ce setting variables. This study is a replication of an earlier pilot study , Ethical conflicts expressed by RN/CDEs in active practice in New York and Pennsylvania were analysed according to four themes. Disagreement with med ical practice was by far the most dominant clinical context for the conflic ts (61%), as it had been in the pilot study (75%). Participants believed th at 32% of the ethical conflicts were resolved. Ethics committees and consul tants were very rarely used. Of the relationships between the kinds of conf licts and their resolution, and demographic, educational and practice setti ng variables of the participants, only kind of position was significantly ( P < 0.005) related to practice context of the ethical conflict.