The aim of this study was to examine the extent and nature of the available research literature on healthcare professionals’ ethical competence and to summarize the research findings in this field.

A scoping review guided by Arksey and O'Malleys methodological framework was conducted.

Six databases including Pubmed/Medline, CINAHL, Web of Science Core Collection, PsycInfo, Philosophers’ Index, and Scopus were searched systematically. Of 1,476 nonduplicate citations, 17 matched the inclusion criteria.

Findings revealed that healthcare professionals’ ethical competence is a limited but topical research area. The focus areas of the studies were conceptualization, measuring, and realization of the ethical competence. The studies provided varying definitions and constructions for ethical competence and a few instruments to measure ethical competence were identified. Research in this area seems to be in a transition phase from theorization to empirical measurement. Methodologically, the research was rather heterogeneous and mainly focused on nurses.