Abstract:

Background:
The profession of nurse is governed both by parliamentary acts and regulations. Nurses are supposed to practice their profession basing on and within the provisions of law, particularly due to the fact that their activities concern human health and life. Legal conscience of Nursing students just before obtaining the right to practice the profession is unsatisfactory.

Aim of study:
The study aimed to assess the level of knowledge of legal acts regulating the profession of a nurse among the final year Bachelor's degree students.

Materials and Methods:
The study enrolled a total of 84 third year Bachelor's degree students in Nursing at Warsaw Medical University. The study was performed in May 2014. An original and non-standardised questionnaire comprising 42 close-ended questions was used as a research tool. More than one answer could have been provided to six questions. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse the collected data.

Results:
64 respondents said that they had got familiar with the content of legal provisions regulating the nursing profession. University classes constituted the source of knowledge of the regulations devoted to the nursing profession for 61 study participants. As many as 81 respondents believed that this kind of knowledge would be useful in their professional activity. On the other hand, only 9 persons knew which legal act regulates the issue of practising as a nurse under the so-called civil law contracts.

Conclusions:
1. A declared level of knowledge of legal regulations concerning the profession of a nurse is substantially higher than the one demonstrated by answers provided to particular questions.
2. The level of knowledge of legislative acts regulating the nursing profession is satisfactory but needs supplementation.
3. The level of legal conscience and knowledge of practising the profession needs to be improved through putting more emphasis on these issues during the course and during the available forms of postgraduate training.