The daily practice of nurses is full of situations that demand a close analysis of the sociocultural context, so that the appropriate decisions are made. These decisions can either be of technical or ethical nature. In the present study, the authors reflect about the professional practice of nurses, focusing especially on the process of ethic decision making. They also relate these decisions to some of the ethic theoretical frameworks in order to indicate the references that guide the nurse's practices in the different professional situations.
ethics; ethics and nursing; professional practice; morality