Abstract: Objective To explore the mediating effect of new nurses' perceptions of patient safety culture between moral sensitivity and safety behaviors. Methods Convenient sampling was used to select 302 new nurses from 7 tertiary grade-A hospitals in Shenyang City from November to December 2022, and they were surveyed using the General Information Questionnaire, the Nurse Safety Behavior Questionnaire, the Patient Safety Culture Assessment Questionnaire, and the Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire. Results The total score of new nurses' safety behavior, perceptions of patient safety culture, and moral sensitivity was 55.95±4.54, 97.10±6.12, and 46.74±5.69, respectively. In this group, the total score of new nurses' safety behavior was positively correlated with that of perceptions of patient safety culture and moral sensitivity (r=0.634, 0.472, both P<0.001), and the total score of perceptions of patient safety culture and that of moral sensitivity were positively correlated (r=0.564, P<0.001). New nurses' perceptions of patient safety culture played a partial mediating role between moral sensitivity and safety behaviors, with a mediating effect of 67.2%. Conclusion Moral sensitivity of new nurses can indirectly influence their safety behaviors by enhancing their perceptions of patient safety culture. It is recommended that nursing managers should strengthen and pay attention to the moral education of new nurses and improve their moral sensitivity, so as to enhance the awareness of patient safety culture, standardize safety behaviors, and ensure patient safety.

Key words: mediating effect, moral sensitivity, new nurse, nurse safety behaviors, patient safety culture