Ethical Considerations in Saudi Nursing Practice: Aligning Professional Standards with Vision 2030's Healthcare Transformation

Abstract

Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 has set ambitious goals for transforming the healthcare system, with a focus on improving the quality, efficiency, and sustainability of care delivery. Nurses, as the largest group of healthcare professionals, play a crucial role in driving this transformation and ensuring the ethical and professional standards of practice. This systematic review aims to synthesize the evidence on the ethical considerations and challenges faced by nurses in Saudi Arabia, and their alignment with the professional codes of conduct and the healthcare transformation objectives under Vision 2030. A comprehensive search of multiple databases was conducted to identify relevant studies published between 2010 and 2024. The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed using standardized tools. The findings highlight the diverse range of ethical issues encountered by nurses in Saudi Arabia, such as patient autonomy, informed consent, confidentiality, end-of-life care, and cultural sensitivity. The review also identifies the key enablers and barriers to ethical nursing practice in the Saudi healthcare context, such as education and training, leadership and management support, interprofessional collaboration, and sociocultural factors. The study provides recommendations for policy, practice, and research to strengthen the ethical competencies and resilience of nurses, and to promote a culture of ethical leadership and decision-making in Saudi healthcare organizations. The findings emphasize the importance of integrating ethics education and training in nursing curricula and continuing professional development programs, and aligning them with the healthcare transformation goals and the professional codes of ethics.