An overview of ethical sensitivity among Chinese registered nurses is needed to develop and optimize the education programs and interventions to cultivate and improve ethical sensitivity.

The study was conducted to explore the barriers to and facilitators of ethical sensitivity among Chinese registered nurses working in hospital settings.

A convergent parallel mixed-methods research design was adopted.

In the cross-sectional quantitative study, the Chinese Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire–revised version was used to assess the levels of ethical sensitivity among registered nurses, and the scores were correlated with key demographics, training experiences in ethics, and workplace cultural environments (n = 306). In the qualitative study, semi-structured interviews were used to elicit the nurses’ perceptions of the barriers and facilitators in nurturing ethical sensitivity (n = 15). The data were collected from February to June 2014.

This study was approved by the Institutional Review Boards of Yale University and Central South University.

Despite moderately high overall Chinese Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire–revised version scores, the ethical sensitivity among Chinese nurses lags in practice. Barriers to ethical sensitivity include the lack of knowledge related to ethics, lack of working experience as a nurse, the hierarchical organizational climate, and the conformist working attitude. The positive workplace cultural environments and application of ethical knowledge in practice were considered potential facilitators of ethical sensitivity.

The findings of this study were compared with studies from other countries to examine the barriers and facilitators of ethical sensitivity in Chinese nurses.

This mixed-methods study showed that even though the Chinese nurses have moderately high sensitivity to the ethical issues encountered in hospitals, there is still room for improvement. The barriers to and facilitators of ethical sensitivity identified here offer new and important strategies to support and enhance the nurses’ sensitivity to ethical issues.