Nursing is at the same time a vocation, a profession and a job. By nature, nursing is a moral endeavor, and being a ‘good nurse’ is an issue and an aspiration for professionals. The aim of our qualitative research project carried out with 18 nurse teachers at a university nursing school in Brazil was to identify the ethical image of nursing. In semistructured interviews the participants were asked to choose one of several pictures, to justify their choice and explain what (...) they meant by an ethical nurse. Five different perspectives were revealed: good nurses fulfill their duties correctly; they are proactive patient advocates; they are prepared and available to welcome others as persons; they are talented, competent, and carry out professional duties excellently; and they combine authority with power sharing in patient care. The results point to a transition phase from a historical introjection of religious values of obedience and service to a new sense of a secular, proactive, scientific and professional identity. (shrink)

This article proposes to identify risk factors for moral distress from the literature, validate them through expert analysis and provide the basis for a new tool to assess the risk of moral distress among nurses. Moral distress is related to the psychological, emotional and physiological aspects of nursing. It arises from constraints caused by various circumstances and can lead to significant negative consequences. A scoping review and validation through expert analysis were used. The research question guiding this study was as (...) follows: What is known about risk factors for moral distress in nursing? The research was conducted using multiple sources including electronic databases and lists of references from relevant literature. The final sample consisted of 38 studies. A validation analysis was conducted by experts during December 2014 and June 2015. To exclude a risk factor item, at least 80% of the experts had to agree with the exclusion. In total, 53 risk factors for moral distress were identified, reviewed by the experts and grouped to form a new instrument that may help to identify risk for moral distress and to address its consequences. (shrink)

A doutora Sonia Maria Oliveira de Barros, professora da Escola de Enfermagem USP, organizou o volume sobre os cuidados no ciclo gravídico-puerperal. A obra aborda os conteúdos programáticos das disciplinas de saúde materna das melhores instituições de ensino brasileiras na área de enfermagem. O objetivo é ensinar sobre a assistência de enfermagem obstétrica na gravidez, tanto no parto quanto no puerpério. O caráter didático dos livros se revela na linguagem clara e na sugestão de atividades de reflexão e fixação dos (...) assuntos discutidos. Todos os capítulos convidam os leitores a refletirem sobre o tema, contribuindo para melhor apreensão das informações. Organizado pelas doutoras Taka Oguisso e Elma Lourdes Campos Pavone Zoboli, ambas também da Escola de Enfermagem da USP, 'Ética e bioética' discute fundamentos da ética, as responsabilidades legais dos profissionais da enfermagem, bioética e políticas públicas. Destaca-se, no livro, a abordagem acerca dos dilemas emergentes no campo da ética, tema bastante atual nas discussões acadêmicas. O livro é um recurso de pesquisa, leitura e apoio para docentes e discentes interessados em se aprofundar em um campo atualmente restrito a poucos estudiosos da área, apesar de sua grande importância na atuação dos profissionais. (shrink)