ETHICAL ISSUES AMONG FINNISH OCCUPATIONAL PHYSICIANS AND NURSES

A postal survey was conducted among 200 Finnish occupational physician s and nurses on their ethical values and problems. Both groups conside red 'expertise' and 'confidentiality' as the most important core value s of occupational health services (OHS) corresponding with newly publi shed national ethical guidelines for occupational physicians and nurse s in Finland. Nearly all respondents had encountered ethically problem atic situations in their work, but ethical problems with gene testing in the near future were not considered likely to occur. Only 41% of th e nurses and 36% of the physicians had received some training in the e thics of OHS, and 76% of all respondents never used available ethical guidelines. According to the results, even if ethics play a vital role in OHS, the ability to critically evaluate one's own performance seem s quite limited. This creates a need for further training and more pra cticable national guidelines.