Conflitos éticos na revelação de informações - parte II

Abstract

This a qualitative study, developed with the objective of describing and analyzing nurses moral judgments in a situation involving ethical conflicts regarding the omission of information, by identifying the argumentative foundations in their way of reflecting and formulating such judgments. The study was undertaken in the city of Maringá, Paraná State, Brazil, with 28 nurses working as faculty, as well as in hospital and ambulatory assistance. Data was collected between October 1998 and February 1999 through focused open interviews, making use of a two-part instrument: the characterization of subjects, and the presentation of a case describing a situation of ethical dilemmas regarding the practice of nursing assistance as for the patient’s right to information. The case was accompanied by questions that approached the theme to be judged, as well as by requests for support to the given answers. In order to interpret the results, thematic analysis was employed, which originated three categories: the process of free and knowledgeable consent, the professional’s attitude in face of the information, and the team’s responsibility to free and knowledgeable consent. It was concluded that nurses base their justifications more on normative and deontological ethics.