The findings of this study showed that from the nurses’ perspective, the city of Kerman teaching hospitals
climates are of the ‘‘professionalism’’ kind, followed by other climates of ‘‘rule,’’ ‘‘caring,’’ ‘‘independence,’’
and ‘‘instrumental’’ in order. Given that the mean scores of ethical climates of ‘‘professionalism’’
and ‘‘rule’’ are quite close (13.45 for professionalism and 13.41 for rules), it appears that in these hospitals,
obeying the rules and professional standards and also practical requirement for adherence to the rules and
organizational procedures are highly important. In similar studies, the first priority of nurses in identification
of ethical climates in nursing has been professionalism. Similar results were observed in a Taiwanese
study2 and in another study in Russia investigating the ethical climate in an organization, where the most
common climate governing the organization was found to be climate of professionalism.23
Existence of ethical climate of professionalism as the climate governing hospitals under study from the
nurses’ perspective indicates that professional principles based on ethical codes and attention to professional
ideals, which are those of health improvement, are the first driving factor in development of ethical
climate in hospitals. Considering scientific development of various subjects of health sciences, especially
nursing in Iran and also development of complementary education, it is expected to see its effects in
hospitals in the shape of impact on ethical climate and rule of professional principles.