Abstract

GUIMARA BATISTA, Nidia de los Ángeles  and  MORAGA GUIMARA, Rubisel. Importance of telling always the truth to patients. Rev Cubana Enfermer [online]. 2006, vol.22, n.2. ISSN 0864-0319.

Ethics is the science in charge of studying the moral principles. It is the systematic reflection on rules or values that should guide human behaviour. This descriptive and prospective study was conducted to assess the criteria of patients, nurses and physicians on the significance of telling always he truth. The universe of study was composed of all the patients admitted during the period of time the work was done, 88 nurses, and 48 physicians. 80 patients, 40 nurses and 40 physicians were finally included in the simple randomized sample. A questionnaire was applied where not only the indicators allowing to characterize the sample were included, but also some different questions to patients, nurses and physicians, on the essential aspects to be investigated. The highest percentage of the individuals involved answered all the questions affirmatively. Among the patients only one woman gave a different opinion on the malignancy of the disease. As regards the specialized nurses and technicians, a low percentage marked the question about telling the truth, but not about every disease, whereas a few physicians considered the need to take into account the personality and psychological status of the patient. It was concluded that the participating professionals and nurses did not violate the ethical principle of truth in their daily practice, and that the patients are interested in one way or another in knowing the truth about their diseases.

Keywords : Medical ethics; ethics; patients; nurses; physicians; diagnosis.

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