INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND INNOVATION CONGRESS -II
MORAL INTELLIGENCE AND CARE FOR PATIENT PRIVACY OF OPERATING ROOM NURSES
The concept of moral intelligence was first defined by M. Borba. Borba defined moral intelligence as a capacity to distinguish right from wrong. According to Borba, it is necessary to have seven basic characteristics for this capacity. These characteristics are; empathy, conscience, self-control, respect, kindness, tolerance and justice (Borba, 2001). As in every area of society, in the work environment and especially in work environments with high risk rates, especially in the health field, the lack of moral intelligence parameters will reveal the negativities that can be experienced due to communication problems and lack of justice in addition to the increase in workload. In many studies, it has been observed that people who have moral intelligence skills and have been able to transfer these skills to their lives establish much more transparent and desired relationships in the work environment (Kruger, 2012). One of the professional groups that provide uninterrupted service to patients in the health field is undoubtedly nurses. Nurses face various ethical problems while providing care and reveal their moral intelligence skills in approaching the ethical problems they encounter while providing nursing care. Surgery, one of the most frequently preferred treatment options today, and the stress it creates can create a feeling of lack of privacy in the patient. This feeling can cause the individual to feel physically, socially and psychologically unsafe in the environment they are in. The fact that the personal control of individuals is transferred to someone else before, during and after the surgical procedure causes the individual to experience anxiety about not being able to protect their privacy. This situation reveals the need for health professionals that the individual can trust and who will care for their privacy on their behalf. In meeting this need and informing the patient, the operating room nurse, who is with the individual from the beginning to the end of the surgical procedure and establishes close contact, has important responsibilities. While providing care, the operating room nurse is expected to observe the patient's privacy from the pre-operative preparation until the patient wakes up and to demonstrate moral intelligence skills in the face of ethical problems and dilemmas that may arise.
