Developing nurses' moral reasoning skills.

Abstract

Analysis of data from a Nursing Dilemma Test administered to 69 registered nurses employed at the Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town revealed a pattern of principled thinking in the groups with 5 to 9, 20 to 24, 25 to 29 and 30 to 34 years of clinical experience, whereas the group with the least clinical experience (0 to 4 years) showed no distinguishable pattern of thinking stages in moral judgement development.