Abstract
Objective
To describe ethical issues occurring in nursing ethical cases (NECs) judged by the Nursing Council of Sao Paulo (Coren/SP).
Methods
Retrospective quantitative study, performed at the Coren/SP. The sample size consisted of 399 documents of nursing professionals obtained in 254 NECs judged in 2012 and 2013. Data was collected through an instrument, which were tabulated and analyzed through descriptive statistics.
Results
The category of nursing assistants (46.12%) was the most involved in the cases, with higher prevalence of beginners in the professional exercise, mean age of 36 years. Most issues highlighted were Iatrogenic by omission (22.6%), Iatrogenic by mistake in the administration of medicines (22.1%), crimes or criminal misdemeanor (18.0%).
Conclusion
The results were important to identify the characteristics of the issues and the professionals involved and the need to deepen the discussion on the ethical problems in everyday nursing practice.
Ethics; Nursing/ethics; Codes of ethics; Legislation, nursing; Professional review organizations
