Ethical challenges in proxy online health information seeking by nursing interns for patients: a qualitative interview study

Guided by Rest's Four-Component Model, this study revealed that nursing interns encounter a range of ethical challenges throughout their decision-making process when performing Proxy OHIS for patients. These challenges span the entire process, from initial issue recognition to the implementation of final actions. To address these challenges effectively, interventions should focus on two key areas: ethics and online health information seeking. In the future, nursing education stakeholders can build a comprehensive ethical support system, including establishing structured supervision protocols for handling Proxy OHIS requests.