Relationship of Ethical Knowledge to Action in Senior Baccalaureate Nursing Students.

It is not known if nursing graduates have skills to manage ethical clinical situations. This study examined the relationship between knowledge of ethics to choices of action in baccalaureate nursing students. It explored individual student characteristics to determine what impact these have on the relationship between knowledge and action. A significant correlation between knowledge of ethics and action was found. College courses on ethics, previous experience in making health care decisions, or general health care experience did not significantly impact this relationship, but the data trended toward significance with previous experience in making decisions and supported a need for further research.