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Investigation of intensive care nurses’ moral intelligence and their attitudes toward medical errors: a cross-sectional study

Jul 2026 · BMC Nursing · Vol 25 · 0 citations · 28 references
Medicine

TL;DR

It is suggested that higher moral intelligence is associated with more positive attitudes toward medical errors and may contribute to strengthening patient safety culture and may contribute to strengthening patient safety culture.

Abstract

This study aims to determine the relationship between the moral intelligence of intensive care nurses and their attitudes towards medical errors. The study was designed as a descriptive, cross-sectional study. The study sample consisted of 158 nurses working in intensive care units at a university hospital. Data were collected using a personal information form and two scales: the Yakut Moral Intelligence Scale and the Attitude towards Medical Errors Scale. Descriptive statistics, an independent samples t-test, a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and a Pearson correlation analysis were used to analyse the data. The results showed that nurses’ attitudes towards medical errors were moderately high (mean score: 3.72 ± 0.70), and their moral intelligence scores were moderate (mean score: 79.53 ± 11.47). No significant differences were found according to gender or educational level (p > .05). A strong positive significant correlation was found between moral intelligence and attitudes towards medical errors (r = .850, p < .01). The findings suggest that higher moral intelligence is associated with more positive attitudes toward medical errors and may contribute to strengthening patient safety culture.

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