Abstract

AMARO CANO, María del Carmen. Ethical decision making applied to the nursing specialty. Rev Cubana Enfermer [online]. 2004, vol.20, n.3, pp. 0-0. ISSN 1561-2961.

The existance of problems related to the nurse's professional performance shows that is not enough to take into consideration the technical dimension to evaluate the quality of nursing care and that it is indispensable to accompany this analysis with an assessment of the moral conduct of these health professionals. Until very recently, most of the theoretical conceptualizations and even the proposals of models of procedures for the ethical decision making were not drectly connected with nurses, since they were not only seen as a subaltern and dependent staff, but they really were due to the fact that their professional performance was only linked with the fulfillment of medical indications. But, from the second half of the last century on, with the recognition of nursing as a constituted science, with its own theoretical-conceptual body and its acting method, it increased its academic rank and, on attaining the university level, it was made equal to other professions in the attention to persons, families and communities in the health-disease process. This new activity has generated new needs in the cognoscitive field and that's why the general objective of this paper is to put at the disposal of the Cuban nursing personnel some theoretical elements on the ethical principles characterizing health professions from different critically analyzed phylosophical positions, and to approach very specially the own principles of nursing profession so that this knowledge allow them to take part in the development of the abilities necessary to make the correct decision to face the moral conflicts appearing in professional practice.

Keywords : Nursing; decision-making.