RAE Specialized Academic Date: 30/03/2018

Summary Sheet:

Theme: Ethical problems in nursing

Título del Artículo: Nursing care as an ethical problem: concepts and principles
applied to the act of caring

Autores del Artículo: Alejandro MirandaI

Sebastián ContrerasI

Fuente Bibliográfica (Base de Datos): Revista Brasileira de

Enfermagemversión impresa ISSN 0034-7167 Rev. bras. enferm. vol.67 no.6
Brasília nov./dic. 2014

ABSTRACT:
In this paper the authors study the nature of the act of care, emphasize the
importance of ethics in the professions related to the health of people and
develop, in the light of the central tradition of Western moral philosophy, a set of
principles that should guide nursing activity.

Key words: Ethics Nursing; Nursing Care; Nursing; Patient-Centered Care

Problem Statement, Research Question:

The phenomenon of "care" has always existed. Originally associated with the
problem of maintaining life, today stands as a professional activity that combines
the knowledge of the technique with principles of prudence derived from the
fundamental precept of respect for the life and dignity of the person, in order to
achieve adequate planning, organization and control of the provision of the most
appropriate, safe and effective treatments for the recovery of the patient.

Despite its "natural" foundations, professional care is not identified with human
care in general. Nursing is a science and an autonomous discipline within the
health professions. It implies an ideal of protection and promotion of human well-
being that puts the accent on the essential unity of body and mind (1),
emphasizing that physical problems are also spiritual affections and that moods
can become health problems.

The purpose of Nursing is to decide the best course of action for the recovery of
the patient, at the right time, in the place that should be and with the people
indicated. In this sense, the practice of Nursing has the difficulties of praxis: in
the world of health there is contingency and change. Never one disease is equal
to the other, because the subjects are all different and have different histories
and experiences.

More than a technical activity, care represents a professional attitude. This is not
exhausted in the fulfillment of tasks by the medical team. It is a normative ideal
that seeks to enhance the dignity of the sick as a human person and as a
member of the social body. As a professional attitude, it aims to go beyond the
dichotomy between theory and practice, stressing that the recovery of health is
always a practical-theoretical problem: practical, because action plans must be
decided to alleviate a certain disease or ailment; and theoretical, because those
courses of action can not be chosen without a minimum knowledge of reality as it
is

In this effort to provide an adequate solution to the illness of the patient, the care
professional must combine technical aspects with historical, emotional and
experiential elements, even with religious issues. For this there is no master
recipe or recipe. The nurse must apply his knowledge as diligently as possible,
aspiring in any case to the promotion of the well-being of his patient.

Given the importance of this issue, and as a way to contribute to the reflection on
the morality of nursing decisions, we have decided to delve into the nature of the
act of care, emphasizing its prudential and artistic nature, as well as the need to
linking ethics with the health professions. In order to be clear in our presentation,
we will divide this work as follows: (i) discussion about the importance of ethics in
the area of health; (ii) review of the nature of the act of care; (iii) presentation of
some moral principles applicable to nursing practice; (iv) final considerations

Goals:
Methodology, Population, Sample Given the importance of this issue, and as a
way to contribute to reflection on the morality of nursing decisions, we have
decided to delve into the nature of the act of care, emphasizing its prudential and
artistic nature, as well as in the need to link ethics with the health professions. In
order to be clear in our presentation, we will divide this work as follows: (i)
discussion about the importance of ethics in the area of health; (ii) review of the
nature of the act of care; (iii) presentation of some moral principles applicable to
nursing practice; (iv) final considerations

Methodology, Population, Sample: Nurses, patients

Referentes Teóricos y Conceptuales:

Results:

.With this work we have tried to highlight the moral nature of the act of care,
beyond its pure technical or artistic nature. Although there are no guidelines for
nurses to perform their work properly, since care is always a circumstantial
phenomenon, there are principles that ensure that the health professional does
not perform a reprehensible care from the moral point of view. For example,
although there are no detailed rules about how to apply or decide on palliative
treatment, it is known that it is never permissible to attempt the death of the
patient as a means to suppress pain. The recognition of these limits to the
professional performance of the medical team is relevant to the progress of
social welfare. The professions are always activities that

Conclusions of the Article:

Nursing should be guided by an ethics of maximums, not minimums. In an

activity such as this, centered on the person, it is not enough, as Cortina says,
the fulfillment of the bureaucratic ethos, proper to the professional who sticks to
the minimum. Therefore, it is not enough for nurses to be competent
professionals, in the sense that they aspire to the pure fulfillment of their
professional and legal duties. Now, of course it is necessary for nurses to fulfill
their duties and obligations as members of the medical team, but the mere
fulfillment of the obligation does not make them excellent professionals, which is
the standard that should guide their activity. What makes your decisions reach
excellence is the search for good.

As in the other areas of praxis, the search for good in health has the difficulty
that it is a circumstantial task. The technical and ethical principles that can be
developed as guides to the nursing activity can never be applied axiomatically to
a pathology or physical problem. It will always be necessary to consider the
subjectivity of the patient. Therefore, care is a professional task that can only be
exercised from the singularity of the other

Comentarios personales (Hacer Énfasis en su opinión sobre el articulo

leído): Ser enfermeros significa brindar un servicio específico a la comunidad,
basados en criterios éticos y morales.

La enfermería es una profesión de servicio y de vocación donde se establecen

relación entre el paciente su familia o con la comunidad esto como un gran
compromiso y responsabilidad con a salud para con ellos ya que esto
constituye el epicentro del cuidado de enfermería , el cual debe ser
desempeñado con base en el respeto a la vida, a la dignidad humana, mediante
la comprensión , compasión , responsabilidad, justicia y calidad de atención.

Teniendo en cuenta lo necesario e importante que es tener ética profesional

en nuestro ámbito como profesionales de la salud y en el entorno humano
,pero muchas veces esto se olvida, en especial los principales fundamentos
de la ética como los que están mencionados en este artículo, no se echa de
menos aquellos principios éticos y morales enseñados y recalcados durante la
formación, solo viven el dia a dia de su profesión sin a veces darse cuenta lo
cruel por decirlo así que puede llegar a hacer con la persona a la que le están
brindando el cuidado. se tratan con tal frialdad que olvidamos por lo que están
pasando estas personas y sus familias , solo nos limitamos a hacer dicho
trabajo estipulado haciendo a un lado la verdadera labor como enfermeros .

Bibliografía: http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/0034-7167.2014670602

Elaborado por: Tatiana Sarmiento